The EU wants to tighten the climate protection requirements further.
The EU Commission will present its plans on Wednesday.
The days are numbered for cars with internal combustion engines.
Brussels - According to plans by the EU Commission, gasoline and diesel vehicles have had their day.
The future of transportation is electric.
On Wednesday, the agency will present its plans to reduce CO2 emissions from new vehicles.
These should go to zero by the middle of the next decade, and the EU wants to be CO2-neutral by 2050.
Petrol and diesel vehicles are currently still the most popular means of transport in the EU.
In addition, globally respected and successful car manufacturers such as VW *, BMW * and Stellantis have their headquarters in the Union. The combustion engines manufactured here are considered to be the most powerful in the world.
EU Commission: The switch to electromobility should be completed by 2035
According to information from sources in Brussels, the Commission now wants to reduce vehicle emissions to zero from 2035 onwards.
That would then be the expected deadline for all corporations to switch to electromobility.
According to current EU regulations, a group's vehicle fleet has only been allowed to emit an average of 95 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometer since 2020.
This target could drop by 60 percent by 2030 and then by 100 percent by 2035.
According to the sources, the exact target values are still controversial.
E-cars: market is picking up speed
The economic consequences of the corona pandemic hit the car manufacturers more or less hard - but electric cars are the big exception.
Battery-powered cars accounted for eight percent of new registrations in Western Europe, with 356,000 new vehicles in the first five months of this year.
That was more than in the whole of 2019, explains car market analyst Matthias Schmidt.
The new specifications will reinforce this trend - and should also force plug-in hybrids, which combine combustion engines and batteries, from the market.
A cause for concern in the auto industry, which is still heavily reliant on this transition technology.
The car lobby is demanding support from the EU for the conversion, in particular by expanding charging stations for electric vehicles.
Then "we will be open to additional CO2 reductions by 2030", recently stated Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association and Head of BMW.
E-mobility: Companies warn of far-reaching consequences when switching
But the industry is deeply divided. Some members warn that moving too quickly to electric vehicles will drive up prices, destroy jobs and benefit Chinese competition with its lead in battery technology. Europe's largest manufacturer, Volkswagen, on the other hand, is in favor of a fully electric future - after the diesel scandal in 2015, VW "pushed towards electric in order to improve its image," says analyst Schmidt. "The group has invested a lot and now has products that comply with CO2 legislation." Volkswagen is in the "perfect position" to gain market share and let some competitors hit the wall.
In June, the group announced that it would no longer sell internal combustion engines in Europe from 2033 to 2035.
“A car is in traffic for an average of 15 years.
If you want to have completely emission-free traffic by 2050, the last car with a combustion engine has to be sold by 2035 at the latest, ”calculates Diane Strauss from the non-governmental organization Transport & Environment.
E-mobility: Study - Daimler and VW "not very ambitious"
In a report published in June, the organization confirmed that VW and Volvo are well prepared for change.
Renault and Hyundai also did well.
Daimler, BMW, Stellantis, however, are "not very ambitious".
The end of the internal combustion engine in 2035 is "a good compromise", believes Pascal Canfin, Chairman of the Committee on Environmental Issues in the EU Parliament: 2030 would be too early for industry and its employees, and 2040 "too late for the EU's climate targets". Canfin is in favor of an aid fund for the industry, amount: "several billion euros".
(afp)
