Motorbikes cleaner than cars
The Association of European Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM) wants to work on significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions. At the same time, jobs are to be secured, the environment protected and economic growth promoted. As the development of electric motorbikes is still in its infancy, the manufacturers also hope to further develop and use e-fuel.
The manufacturers organised in the association have declared their support for building two-wheelers, three-wheelers and four-wheelers in the L vehicle category more sustainably by 2050. This is the association's reaction to the EU's plans to demand more environmental friendliness in passenger cars and light commercial vehicles by 2035. It is only a matter of time before this is also required for motorbikes. To anticipate this, the association has now published a so-called white paper with environmentally friendly targets.
Motorbikes generally emit less CO2 than other vehicles. On average, a Euroclass 5 motorbike emits 25 per cent less than a Class 6 diesel vehicle. Compared to petrol engines, the difference is even greater: a whole 31 per cent can be saved by switching to a motorbike. Since the introduction of Euroclass 0, motorbikes have reduced their pollutant emissions by as much as 94 percent up to Euroclass 3. When class 4 was introduced, it was another 25 percent. In addition, there are far fewer two-wheelers than passenger cars and they only account for about two percent of the total traffic volume. The C02 emissions of motorbikes are therefore only 0.3 tonnes, while they amount to 2 tonnes per year for passenger cars.
By 2030, the association also expects a significant increase in electric drives for motorbikes, which are not yet sufficiently available today or which exist but are not yet feasible in the short term. According to the manufacturers, this should have changed fundamentally by 2030. There is a three-point programme to achieve this: firstly, the combination of battery technology and low-carbon liquid fuels; secondly, the abandonment of ideological politics in favour of a scientific approach to solving the problem; and thirdly, a significant increase in the number of charging stations so that the appropriate infrastructure is also guaranteed throughout the EU. The association thus trusts in the further development of technology. However, it is not certain whether technology will always be able to keep up with climate policy requirements, so we will have to rely on environmental zones for quite some time to achieve climate targets.