So anyway: The EU is making a plan for petrol cars after 2035
The European Union stood firm for a long time and declared that after 2035 no new cars with internal combustion engines would be allowed to be sold. That seems to be changing now.
Reuters reports this based on documents it has seen. According to the press agency, Brussels is working on a proposal that would allow new cars with internal combustion engines after 2035.
New technology
This affects cars that can only use CO2 neutral fuels or synthetic fuels. It is therefore not normal petrol, but a fuel that is produced in a CO2-neutral manner.
The plan states that these new cars must then have technology on board that can detect whether the fuel is in fact carbon neutral. If not, the car cannot start.
Pain point for the EU
If this technology worked, it would eliminate a major pain point for the European Union. In Brussels, people spoke out against the sale of cars with combustion engines after 2035 because it would no longer be possible to check whether the car would be CO2-neutral or run on normal fuel. These normal fuels will not disappear from the market until 2035. After 2035, cars that run on conventional fuels will be allowed. The rule only affects cars sold new from that moment on.
With this new regulation, the EU wants to accommodate countries like Germany and Italy. Like a number of other European countries, these two countries are opposed to the general ban on internal combustion engines by 2035.
Are CO2-neutral fuels attractive?
The question, however, is how attractive carbon-neutral fuels will be by 2035. The production of these fuels requires a lot of energy. It may be green, but EU says it’s better to use that energy for other purposes. In addition, internal combustion engines are less efficient than electric motors. So it takes quite a bit of energy to run cars on these carbon neutral fuels. Therefore, around the year 2035, they will probably still be very expensive. Nevertheless, the new regulation can be an important step towards consensus in Europe on this topic.