As of the early hours of Wednesday morning (June 29th), the EU has agreed to a climate dealwhich would ban the sale of new CO2-emitting cars and vans from 2035, 5 years after theUK’s planned ban. The agreement follows 16 hours of negotiations between EnvironmentalMinisters from the 27 EU member states. The ban will effectively bring about an end to thecombustion engine, with the group stating that “It’s game over for the internal combustionengine in Europe.” This ban was initially put forward by the European Commission last year.The proposition was met with some resistance from German vehicle manufacturers. Thiswas to be expected, given they have heavily relied on the sale of vehicles with combustionengines whilst failing to make significant progress on electric vehicles when compared toforeign competitors.The VDA (German Association of the Automotive Industry) claimed that the deal has beenmade without adequate consideration for the lack of EV charging infrastructure acrossEurope, which is a fair point. Last year, a report from an external auditor determined thatthere was a lack of charging stations across EU member nations. If this ban is to be put intoaction, this is something that will need to be addressed.The case supports demands – particularly from German organisations and manufacturers(e.g., Porsche) – for carbon-neutral synthetic fuels to be spared from the ban. Synthetic fuelcan be dispensed from existing fuel infrastructure, so naturally appears to be a greatalternative for those of us who may live in areas with insufficient charging points.Negotiations between the members of the German 3-party coalition government ultimatelyconcluded with the Germans voting in favour of the ban but at a compromise. Germanywants to insert a clause that exempts carbon-neutral vehicles from the ban, with GermanEnvironmental Minister Steffi Lemke requesting that the new ruling allows the sale ofvehicles running on CO2-neutral fuels.It will be interesting to see how any potential agreements on the use of synthetic fuelsinfluences other manufacturers. Will they continue to follow an existing company EVroadmap, or will they choose to focus more resources on synthetic fuels? It is also worthkeeping an eye on how the outcome of the UK’s proposed 2030 ban impacts the EU’sstrategy.The ban will be discussed amongst EU member nation governments ahead of any finalagreement on the proposal.
