The ban on petrol engines after 2035 may be over, but rules still make it impossible

The petrol cars on eFuels should become more sustainable than electric cars

It was a small victory for petrol enthusiasts: under pressure from Germany, the EU agreed to an exception to the ban on combustion engines in 2035. Major car manufacturers will still be allowed to produce petrol engines after 2035, but only if they run exclusively on sustainable eFuels. The concrete effect of this exception is now known, and it is not good news.

Reuters was able to see the first draft of the rules for combustion engines after 2035. It appears that the rules have been made so strict that it is virtually impossible for major car manufacturers to make petrol and diesel engines after 2035. For example, the EU requires that eFuels produce 100 percent fewer emissions than conventional fuels, including production and transport.

Impossible to make something 100 percent climate neutral

The eFuels are brewed by removing CO2 from the air and turning it into a fuel. These CO2 are released again during combustion. The fuel itself is therefore climate neutral. The only things that add emissions are things like the transport and distribution of the pod. “It is impossible to achieve a total reduction in emissions,” the eFuel Alliance says.

The alliance says: 'The proposal now on the table is so restrictive that it cannot be implemented. The ban on the combustion engine will therefore continue to exist in 2035.' According to the alliance, it also applies to electric cars that it is impossible to be completely climate neutral. The power has to come from somewhere there too.

The eFuel Alliance believes that the European Commission is 'undermining' the use of synthetic fuels and that the targets that have now been set are only realistic for the year 2040. Now they would only slow things down.

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