The European Union is weighing the possibility of postponing a decision to ban the production of combustion engine cars for five years, after strong pressure from some of the region’s biggest manufacturers.
The European Commission is expected to unveil changes to its rules next week aimed at abandoning fossil fuels in the auto sector by 2035. Several governments and automakers, from Italy to Poland, say the planned move to abandon current technology is too aggressive and could wipe out one of the region’s main industries.
The commission’s strategy is to authorize a five-year extension of the use of the combustion engine until 2040 in plug-in hybrids and extended-range vehicles. This will be based on the condition that they run on advanced biofuels and so-called e-fuels – made from captured CO2 and renewable electricity – as well as using green steel in their manufacturing, according to people familiar with the matter.
Such a plan would allow the EU to still aim for zero emissions in new passenger cars by 2035, depending on the exact parameters of the proposal, the sources said. It will also address the concerns of several car and parts-producing countries, which have called for the use of clean technologies beyond purely electric vehicles after that date.
Discussions are continuing within the commission and details could still change, people warned. It is the policy of the commission not to comment on regulations during the drafting phase.
As automakers buy time to transition to fully electric vehicles, some fear environmental groups will question the move, saying it creates new loopholes that undermine Europe’s climate ambitions and risks leaving the region’s major automakers even further behind China in the race for battery-powered road transport.
The proportion of plug-in hybrids and extended-range vehicles that could be sold on the European market after 2035 has not yet been decided, according to the people who spoke on condition of anonymity while discussions are ongoing. Key technical details on e-fuels and advanced biofuels are also being worked out, they said.
Although e-fuels can, in theory, be climate neutral, they are expensive and the technology is in its infancy. The benefits of biofuel emissions are hotly debated, as is the pressure they can put on land that could be used for food production.
The announcement expected next week is also expected to include the postponement of plans to define how emissions from plug-in hybrid cars are calculated. The commission had considered moving to a system measuring actual pollution instead of the current measurement, which uses laboratory assumptions that significantly underestimate actual emissions.
The automotive package will be accompanied by a proposal to increase the share of electric vehicles in company fleets and to change emissions rules for heavy vehicles.
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