But there is no end to combustion engine vehicles in the EU – Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) welcomed the decision on Saturday. He once again conjured up the car with the ‘green combustion engine’, but experts are critical of the use of e-fuels.
“Today is a good day because we know that the car with the green internal combustion engine will stay,” Nehammer said at a press conference on Saturday. Austria has been fighting side by side with Germany in recent weeks against a ban on internal combustion engines from 2035. “That’s what we wanted and what we campaigned for,” he said in a broadcast.
“Progress, Not Bans”
“It’s about progress, not prohibitions. The internal combustion engine has a future if we turn it into a green internal combustion engine and further develop technologies such as e-fuels or hydrogen propulsion,” explains the chancellor, although experts criticize that e-fuels are expensive and be inefficient. “It is right and proper that the European Commission is now conceding,” said Nehammer. “This paves the way for progressive and climate-friendly technologies in the green combustion engine.”
Climate change can only be counteracted by being “innovation and technology friendly”, he stressed again at the press conference. According to Nehammer, the agreement is also an important response to Austria as a location. More than 80,000 jobs depended on the auto industry.
Gewessler sees “automotive industry weakening”
“It is good that there is now an agreement and that the road to CO2-neutral mobility is no longer blocked,” responded Minister of Climate Protection Leonore Gewessler (Greens). But the fact that a loophole is needed to get the “approval of the inhibitors and blockers mourning an old fossil ideology is unfortunate and will weaken the European car industry”.
Greenpeace: “Bad compromise harms Europe”
Greenpeace, meanwhile, sharply criticized the agreement between the German federal government and the EU Commission: “This rotten compromise undermines climate protection in transport and harms Europe,” said the mobility expert of the environmental organization Benjamin Stephan in Berlin on Saturday. The auto industry’s “urgently needed focus on efficient electromobility” will be diluted with the agreement.
Vehicles with combustion engines could also be newly registered after 2035 if they only fill up with CO2-neutral fuels. A concrete procedure and timetable have been established in a binding manner. In a first step, a category that is pure e-fuels should be created and then integrated into the fleet limit value scheme. This should be completed in the fall of 2024.
Production could not meet the demand for e-fuels
E-fuels have hardly been produced so far and are considered scarce, expensive and inefficient. Therefore, according to the will of the European Commission, they should be reserved primarily for shipping or air traffic that cannot be operated directly with electricity. According to a study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the expected production volume in 2035 is not sufficient to meet demand in these areas alone. There would then be nothing left for cars, even if all hoped-for production capacities could be exhausted.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
