The EU Commission’s proposal could solve the combustion dispute.
(Photo: dpa)
Brussels The EU Commission is reacting to the demands of Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) to secure the future of internal combustion engines in passenger cars. The authority has sent a regulation proposal to Berlin, reports the Reuters news agency.
Accordingly, it is planned that e-fuel vehicles should technically recognize whether they have been fueled with fossil petrol or diesel or with e-fuels. If the system detects a fossil fuel, it should automatically switch off the car.
From 2035, no new cars with internal combustion engines will be registered in the EU. This is what a law provides for that was finally discussed in the EU bodies and was stopped by Germany at the last moment. The FDP only wants to agree if a loophole is created for combustion cars that can only be refueled with climate-neutral e-fuels.
It is the first time that the EU Commission has made a concrete proposal on how the complicated requirements of the German federal government should be implemented. The Ministry of Transport had not made any proposal on this crucial point either.
There was more speculation about another variant, namely narrower e-fuel taps at the gas stations and correspondingly narrower filler necks on the tanks of the new cars. However, such a device could easily be circumvented.
Competition with airplanes, ships and chemical industry
E-fuels are fuels that are produced using electricity. This binds CO2, which is released again when it is burned. If the electricity comes from renewable sources, e-fuels are climate-neutral. However, the EU law in its current version would ban all CO2 emissions when driving a car.
>> Read here: That’s what the e-fuel dispute is about – the most important questions and answers
Climate protectors want to use e-fuels to make air and ship traffic climate-neutral. In chemistry, too, there is a need for replacements for classic oil products.
According to the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), there are currently around 60 announcements for e-fuel projects worldwide, with hardly any investment decisions being made. According to the institute, all of these projects together could cover around ten percent of Germany’s indispensable e-fuel requirements by 2035 – i.e. without cars or trucks being refueled with it.
Minister of State for Europe Anna Lührmann (Greens) said on Tuesday in Brussels that she assumed that talks on the future of combustion engines would be concluded before the meeting of EU heads of state and government on Thursday.
More: Germany is jeopardizing the most important climate protection package in the world