Amid stricter emissions regulations to combat climate change, BMW plans to offer buyers different technologies, including hydrogen fuel-cell cars.
The European Union is scrambling to salvage a plan to effectively ban new combustion-engine cars by 2035 after Germany and Italy threatened to block the agreement.
In one possible compromise, Germany is seeking assurances that there will be an exemption to the rules for e-fuels, according to people familiar with the matter.
German Transport Minister Volker Wissing spoke with Frans Timmermans, the EU’s climate chief, to discuss the proposal as part of a flurry of talks, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
The last-minute intervention by Germany’s transport ministry has thrown what would normally be a formality into disarray.
Preparations for vote on Tuesday were postponed until Friday due to Germany threatening to abstain and Italy saying they would reject the CO2 rules agreed last year. Without a qualified majority among member states, the regulation cannot become law.
There is widespread frustration in the European Commission that Germany is raising objections at this stage when it agreed on the council’s position last June.
Germany took part in a final deal with the parliament in October and balking after a so-called trilogue agreement is highly unusual.
While Italy’s opposition is seen as stubborn, EU officials hope Germany can be persuaded to back down, if it gets assurances that the commission will propose an exemption for climate-neutral synthetic fuels before a scheduled review in 2026.
The technical nature of the alternative fuel means that the bloc’s executive branch will not be able to put something on the table this week, but it could still show its support bilaterally.
E-fuels skepticism
Despite Germany’s support, e-fuels face skepticism over whether they can really help reduce emissions for ground transport because they are currently scarce and significantly more expensive than gasoline and diesel. One of Wissing’s counterparts in the German cabinet appeared ready to back down.
“I believe Germany should act reliably at the European level,” Environment Minister Steffi Lemke told ARD radio. “There is a solution that needs to be found, for which we still have enough time. It should then come into force in 2035.”
The differing views is a sign of the complexity inherent in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition. Wissing is a member of the pro-business Free Democrats, which has butted heads with the Greens — a fellow junior partner in the government — over transport policy among other issues.
The FDP, which has suffered a series of setbacks in regional elections, is keen to be seen as a champion of technological choice as well as supporting German jobs.
The automotive industry makes up roughly 5 percent of the nation’s economy and employs more than 800,000 people. The sector includes scores of specialized parts-makers that have developed over the course of more than a century of supplying carmakers including Volkswagen Group, BMW and Mercedes-Benz with transmissions, exhaust systems and components for combustion-engine cars. Many of these parts are not needed for electric vehicles.
‘Fight against car’
In a sign of the concerns surrounding the transition to battery-powered cars, Ford last month announced plans to cut about 3,800 jobs across Europe, with workers in Germany and the UK set to be the hardest hit.
“Whoever is serious about climate-neutral mobility must keep all technological options open and also use them,” Wissing said in an interview with public broadcaster ARD. “I don’t understand this fight against the car and why people want to ban some technologies.”
Automakers have already moved well down the path of an all-electric future with unprecedented investments into the battery supply chain and new models.
Car companies have different approaches. Some, such as Ford Motor, aim to go all-electric in Europe within a few years. Others such as BMW has stuck with a plan to offer buyers globally a range of technologies, including combustion-engine cars and hydrogen fuel-cells.- https://europe.autonews.com/
