Germany against the ban on diesel and petrol cars
Also Germany takes sides against the ultimatum of the European Union against diesel and petrol. The EU, which a few weeks ago definitively decided to ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars from 2035, must receive new and heavy criticisms. In fact, Berlin has officially asked the EU to propose rules that allow the sale of cars with combustion engines even after the deadline by which all new cars must be zero-emissions. so atbeyond many countries, including Italy, now the German giant is added. And therefore the game of those in Brussels asking for a softer transition towards the green seems to be regaining momentum.
The vehicles for which Germany would like an exception are those capable of using i so-called e-fuels with net zero emissions. E-fuels, which can be produced using CO2 emissions captured from the atmosphere, thus offsetting the CO2 emitted when the fuel is burned – are being developed to allow modified versions of combustion engines to continue to be used.
“The commission should come up with a proposal on how to use e-fuels or how to organize combustion engines to run on climate-neutral fuels,” said the German State Secretary for Transport, Michael Theurer upon his arrival at meeting of EU transport and energy ministers in Stockholm, Theurer said Germany believes battery electric vehicles are the “way forward,” but wants to see other technologies supported as well. “We need hydrogen technology and also e-fuelsespecially in heavy vehicles, in trucking,” he said.
The Italian position
Since taking office, the Meloni government has said it is against the hypothesis of Ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars across the European Union from 2035. A position that had not changed even after the definitive go-ahead for the provision. For the Minister of Environment and Energy Security Pichetto Fratin “the timing imposed by European legislation would make the farewell to the sale of combustion cars impracticable”.
Fratin, which he branded as a “deal for the rich” the switch to electric he then specified: “I voted positively in the EU Council of Ministers for the blocking of polluting cars but the Parliament gave a squeeze that was not feasible in the timing. We need to remodel the intervention. At the moment it is not economically and socially compatible>.
“In the medium term – continued the minister – we must be able to develop alternatives to fossil fuels and I am thinking of hydrogen, biomethane, but also technologies such as carbon capture which can represent a punctual solution for situations in which hydrocarbons are more complex to replace in the medium term”.
But all the same Minister of Transport and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini took the field against the measure. “We don’t have to go all-in on electric right away – Salvini explained – A determining factor is time. We all agree on the final target, but running excessively risks producing the opposite effect. The transition in which we all believe must be encouraged and accompanied. It is necessary that the right to mobility is guaranteed to allthinking above all of those who cannot afford an electric car” .
A line now also embraced by Michael Theurer.
But strong criticisms also come from metalworkers’ unions. According to a study by the CISL they are over 200,000 jobs at risk if the transition to electric power will not be gradual, without counting the effects on related businesses.
The paradox: more pollution
The same ones underline the EU error in deciding on a transition in a short time dealers which signal how the stop to the sale of diesel and petrol cars from 2035 will paradoxically produce greater pollution on the roads. “Those who cannot afford the purchase of an electric car – it is explained – he will postpone the change of the car, therefore keeping the old and polluting one. So on the roads we will have an increasingly obsolete car park. And this will happen in a country where the circulating vehicle over 10 years already has a share that reaches over 20%”.
But the fact that Italians don’t like electric cars is certified by the sales figures for green cars. In January 2023, even fewer electric cars were sold than in the previous year with the market share falling below 3%. Not only the cost of the cars is holding back the purchase (on average a third more than the same model with the combustion engine) but also the shortage of charging stations. All this, just under 15 years after the EU ultimatum, appears to be much more than an alarm bell that should make even the most fundamentalist ecological component in Brussels reflect.