Combustion engines out of the EU
In the EU, around a quarter of CO2 emissions come from transport, 12 percent of which are from passenger cars. The EU has adopted a plan in which emissions from new vehicles are to be 55 percent lower than in 2021, and Germany has now agreed to this plan.
In 2007, the EU set the first fleet limit values for passenger cars with an internal combustion engine. Fleet limit value means that all vehicles registered in the EU may not exceed the limit value, i.e. not every individual vehicle must comply with the value, but the totality of all vehicles in the EU. But in 2035, the final end for combustion vehicles is now supposed to come.
This has been proposed by the EU as part of its Fit for 55 programme, and which is now supported by Germany. The EU is also proposing stricter fleet limits for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles such as vans. The goal is to cut pollutant emissions from passenger cars by more than half by 2030 compared to 2021. From 2035, only cars without combustion engines are to be registered. This would also mean the end of e-fuels. Environmentalists already criticise that the electricity used in the production of e-fuels can be used to drive much further with an e-battery. In contrast, the manufacturers of synthetic fuels say that it is not the type of drive that needs to be changed, but the type of fuel, because an internal combustion engine that emits no pollutants is better than a battery that was fed with fossil energy.
Federal Environment Minister Lemke believes that internal combustion engines powered by e-fuels will only be possible outside the CO2 fleet limits after 2035. The CO2 emissions of e-fuels are calculated as high as those of combustion engines using fossil energy, although e-fuels are CO2-free because CO2 was taken from the atmosphere for their production. This would also have to be taken into account, otherwise the willingness to produce e-fuels would be too low.
The EU Commission wants a separate and new emissions trading system for fuels. This could lead to fuels becoming noticeably more expensive, which would burden financially worse off households and small businesses. All in all, the EU's so-called Green Deal plan will give the internal combustion engine the coup de grace by 2035, as even e-fuels would be too expensive to compete.
If there are actually no more cars emitting pollutants by then, even the existing environmental zone rules could be dropped at some point. But this does not mean the end of low emission zones.