The European Union approved at the beginning of the year that no more cars with combustion engines could be sold
on the continent
after January 1, 2035. The measure was approved by all the competent authorities.
Following the proposal of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the 27 governments of the bloc voted in favour.
Everything was done
in the absence of formal approval,
the signature of the ambassadors of the 27 in Brussels for it to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
This last step is a formality because it never occurs to anyone that an ambassador could oppose his government.
That period of weeks between the approval of the governments and the signing of the ambassadors
was used by the luxury automakers
to put pressure on them and
their lobbying had an effect
.
Luxury automakers lobbied, and their lobbying worked.
Photo: archive
Contrary to what their ministers had voted for,
the German and Italian ambassadors
informed the temporary presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the hands of Sweden until June 30, that they
could not sign
.
Swedish diplomacy
aborted the signing
sine die
.
The quasi-approved legislation says that automakers can continue selling cars with combustion engines until December 31, 2034. From then on, these cars can continue to circulate and be sold on the second-hand market, but new cars cannot be sold
.
Therefore, these companies will begin in the coming years
to stop developing new models
of combustion engines.
Community sources reported this weekend that luxury brands such as
Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini or Maserati
lobbied successfully and their governments stopped when their ministers had already voted in favor of the new rule.
Luxury brands like Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini or Maserati successfully lobbied and their governments.
Photo: EFE
In Italy,
the entire government seems to agree with these companies
.
Split in the German government
In Germany
it is more complex
.
The third leg of the coalition Executive, the liberals, defend the luxury automakers.
The first two, the social democrat and the environmentalist, want the ban to be approved.
Those luxury brands
demand an exception
.
They want that from 2035 it will be possible to continue selling cars with combustion engines that use the fuels that their marketing calls
e-fuels
or
synthetic electrofuels
, which are fuels created
without oil as a raw material
but that
do generate polluting emissions
when used in a car engine.
Its producers claim that
its climate impact is neutral
.
His explanation ensures that they are created by combining captured carbon dioxide with hydrogen extracted from water in a process for which they promise to use electricity from renewable sources.
This is how they create that fuel.
But when it is used in a car it emits
polluting carbon dioxide
.
They say that having used carbon dioxide in its production makes it climate neutral.
The method has been around since 1925
and was used by the Nazi military industry to create liquid fuels from coal during World War II
when it was almost out of oil
.
Formula 1 will use them in its cars from 2026
to make believe that it participates in the energy transition
.
And to serve luxury car brands to promote those fuels.
Mercedes and BMW, against
The vast majority of European automakers, also those that produce some cars close to or greater than 100,000 euros and that have models that can be even more expensive than a Porsche or a Maserati, brands like Mercedes-Benz or BMW, believe that
the
exception It is a mistake because it sends a bad signal to the industry, which is already fully involved in the development of the next generations of electric cars.
Those who reject the exception also remember that these synthetic fuels
would be more expensive than the traditional ones
and would be far from the reach of anyone, although it does not seem that it is the criterion that whoever buys a Ferrari will take into account in the first place.
But that buyer of a Ferrari could ask himself if he would buy that car
if it no longer had the characteristic engine noise
that its models have today.
Electric motors
are much quieter
.
In addition, the industry ensures that by 2035 the production capacity of synthetic fuels in Europe could reach 2% of the cars if the number of cars remains stable in the next 12 years.
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