From 2035, the sale of cars with internal combustion engines will be stopped throughout Europe. Unless there is some derogation on the date and the percentage of emissions to be cut (100 percent or 90), the decision is made: starting from that date, only electric cars will be on sale. The road is drawn. Everyone will have to come to terms with it and everyone, from industry to governments, will have to work together to meet the commitments.
It will be a difficult path also because the automotive sector (certainly not the only one) is plagued by unpredictable variables and continuous twists. At the center of a real “perfect storm”, which began over two years ago and which continues to feed on new perturbations. From Covid to the microprocessor crisis, from the war in Ukraine to the race towards zero emissions, up to the soaring increase in fuels, almost everything has got in the way of the industrial and market objectives of what was once the world‘s leading sector by turnover. and employment.
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And here we come to the electric car and the role it will have to play. According to the decision of the European Parliament from 2035, all the others can no longer be sold. So, no more petrol, diesel, LPG or methane models, but not even any kind of hybrid solution, today the absolute dominator in the main markets of the old continent. This decision was not exactly shared, given that Acea itself, the organization that represents European car manufacturers, had taken a great deal of exposure to insert at least a 10 per cent derogation, reserved for other fuels, especially synthetic ones.
On the other hand, some countries of the Union also continue to express various doubts about the effectiveness of such a decision. Italy, for example, has just presented a proposal to move to 2040.
Therefore, the discussion is destined to continue. However, they all agree that the future of the car will have to be zero emissions, an objective that must be achieved with greater flexibility in terms of time and also bearing in mind the need for so-called “technological neutrality”. At stake is the problem of employment, of medium and large companies that could have problems of reconversion difficult to implement in too short a time. These are risks but also enormous opportunities which, however, would need support from governments and a fairly certain road map. On the one hand, the manufacturers themselves show full adherence to environmental programs, on the other hand they are strongly worried about the collapse in sales starting right from the old continent: in May a decrease of 34.3% compared to 2019 (last year before covid) .
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This leads to the consumer. To those who, in short, would like to change or buy a new car, a fundamental step for the renewal of the park. Until yesterday everyone “hung” for the hybrid, today we learn, however, that it has become a product “with expiry”, including plug-ins, rechargeable cars even with the plug. So? We will inevitably have to look at the electric. However, it still costs a lot, has difficulty in refueling and does not allow for the autonomy necessary for freedom of movement, which has always been the great seduction of the traditional car. We will have to look with great confidence at the development of these cars, at the strength of technology and above all at the development of charging infrastructures. It is on these factors that the change in mobility will depend.