10:55 am, March 27, 2023
The EU has announced that vehicles running on synthetic e-fuels will be exempt from its upcoming ban on new ICE sales.
The bloc has been trying to push through the ban throughout this year but has been thwarted following complaints by both Italy and Germany.
Both nations wanted an e-fuel exemption to be added, leading to a key vote on the issue being pulled at the last minute in February.
Now, following three weeks of intense negotiations, a deal has been reached to placate the rebelling nations.
Frans Timmermans, the EU’s climate commissioner, confirmed the news on Twitter over the weekend.
We have found an agreement with Germany on the future use of efuels in cars.
We will work now on getting the CO2-standards for cars regulation adopted as soon as possible, and the Commission will follow-up swiftly with the necessary legal steps to implement recital 11.
— Frans Timmermans (@TimmermansEU) March 25, 2023
The controversy initially erupted last month, when Germany and Italy rebelled on the set of CO2 emissions performance standards for new cars and vans sold within the bloc.
The move initially required firms to make a 100 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions from new vehicles – effectively banning new ICE sales by 2035.
However, until now there had been no provisions made for cars running on e-fuels, which are made by mixing CO2 and hydrogen.
The issue was a particular sticking point for Germany, with Porsche recently opening a new plant to produce synthetic fuel, following huge investment.
German transport minister Volker Wissing said: ‘This clears the way for vehicles with internal combustion engines that run on CO₂-neutral fuels only to be newly registered after 2035.’
In response to the news Julia Poliscanova, director at green lobby group Transport & Environment, told the FT that e-fuels were an ‘ expensive and massively inefficient diversion from the transformation to electric [which is] facing Europe’s carmakers’.
In the UK, the government is currently sticking to its plan to ban new ICE sales by 2030 before phasing out hybrids five years later.
There is currently no provision for e-fuels. Car Dealer has approached the Department for Transport for comment.
