According to a draft law by the EU Commission, new cars with combustion engines should only be able to be fueled with completely CO2-neutral e-fuels from 2035. According to the draft available to Reuters on Friday, a new type of vehicle is to be introduced. The cars would have to be designed in such a way that the engine only starts with the correct e-fuel in the tank. This can be done using devices to monitor the chemical properties of the fuel. The proposal is expected to be published later this year. The interest group “eFuel Alliance” criticized the plan as too restrictive and practically impossible to implement. “This means that the ban on internal combustion engines will remain in 2035,” explained the association, which, in addition to e-fuel manufacturers, also includes companies in the automotive and petroleum industries.
Actually, from 2035 onwards, only CO2-free new cars will be allowed to be registered in the European Union (EU), which practically means a ban on combustion engines. Germany On the initiative of Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP), an exception was made so that cars with combustion engines could continue to run on e-fuels. The required CO2 neutrality means that when they are burned, only as much carbon dioxide may be emitted as was previously captured from the air to produce them. E-fuels are still very expensive today; their production requires more energy than a battery drive.
Porsche and BMW rely on e-fuels
According to the eFuel Alliance, the legislative plan requires a 100 percent reduction in CO2 emissions, which includes the entire value chain including the transport of fuels. “As long as transport and distribution are not also secured using renewable energies, a complete reduction in emissions cannot be achieved,” explained association boss Ralf Diemer.
From the German car manufacturers has Porsche advocated the use of synthetic fuels so that a combustion engine variant of the 911 sports car can continue to be built. Also BMW insists on openness to technology, i.e. no commitment to battery electrics alone. BMW and the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) explained that e-fuels are also important in order to reduce the CO2 emissions of the existing fleet of currently around 250 million vehicles in Europe. Current BMW combustion engines could already use e-fuels. “Technically, it is not a problem that the vehicles recognize e-fuels and can therefore only be operated with them,” explained the VDA.