[ad_1]
Germany said “no” to the European Commission’s proposal to halt sales of new diesel and gasoline cars from the middle of the next decade. The country’s opinion was expressed in the voice of its Transport Minister, Volker Wissing, who recently spoke at an informal meeting with ministers from other European countries near Paris.
“We want to let the engine burn even after 2035,” he said, quoted by our colleagues at Motor1.com Italy. However, there is one very important detail and Germany must allow the sale of new combustion cars “only if they can be powered exclusively with synthetic fuels.”
Synthetic fuels are potentially compatible with traditional vehicles and will allow them to stay on the road for years to come while still achieving emission reductions. The German minister therefore believes that there are “solutions to ensure that cars are not refueled with fuels derived from fossil fuels.”
According to Volker Wissing, “we cannot rely solely on electric or hydrogen mobility for the future” and “we must remain technologically neutral.” It should also be taken into account that, to date, “we don’t have enough electric vehicles, so we need to increase their availability.”
For the record, just yesterday, Audi announced its V6 diesel engine can now run on renewable fuels, reducing CO2 emissions by 70 to 95 percent.
The idea of an “intermediate” solution to achieve complete decarbonization seems to echo the words of Italy’s minister of ecological transition, Roberto Cingolani. He recently stated that the future of cars “cannot be fully electric” and that we can focus on “ultra-modern hybrid generations, even with limited performance” to reduce CO2.
In September last year, Italy announced it was in talks with the European Commission for a possible exception to the rule for the country’s supercar maker. The proposed 2035 combustion engine ban in Europe is still in the proposal stage, which must go through a lengthy process of approval and acceptance by EU members.
[ad_2]
Source link
