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There are mixed reactions to a new deal struck between Germany and the European Union (EU) over the planned ban on the sale of new combustion-powered cars by 2035.
While Germany's powerful automotive industry and transport ministry welcomed a change to the original plans to end the sale of ICE cars in the EU by 2035, which had been debated for years, some EU nations, campaigners and environmentalists are disappointed.
EU Commission member and Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, tweeted that the EU had reached a deal with Germany and would get to work on the specifics.
"We will work now on getting the CO2-standards for cars regulation adopted as soon as possible, and the Commission will follow-up swiftly with the necessary legal steps to implement recital 11."
Recital 11 refers to an EU regulation relating to ensuring a "strategy to address the challenges posed by the scale-up of the manufacturing of zero-emission vehicles and associated technologies" is in place, but effectively Timmmermans' tweet confirms the last-minute move from Germany and its allies has worked.
German Transport Minister Volker Wissing said on Twitter the "way is clear" for the amendment to the deal, and that "Europe remains technology-neutral".
"Vehicles with internal combustion engines can still be newly registered after 2035 if they fill up exclusively with CO2-neutral fuels," Wissing tweeted.
"We have secured opportunities for Europe by retaining important options for climate-neutral and affordable mobility."
But a report from Energy Monitor called ‘Did Germany Kill the Electric Car?' outlines several reasons the plans changed so late in the deal's development, including a change in government in Italy which meant the new administration went along with the deal for some time due to unfamiliarity.
Furthermore, the report cites concerns from the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E), the group which campaigned for the EU to agree to the 2035 deadline in the first place.
Alex Keynes, Clean Vehicles Manager for T&E told Energy Monitor there are too many potential loopholes to ensure that this new version of the 2035 deal can be effective as intended, and says companies could even manipulate vehicles to run on fossil fuels anyway, citing the Volkswagen 'Dieselgate' scandal as an example of similar widespread corporate misconduct.
"You basically undermine the regulation to such an extent, with so many loopholes and openings for fraud and tampering, that there is no way to ensure that any ICE cars sold after 2035 aren't being fuelled by fossils."
In an official release from T&E, Senior Director for Vehicles and E-mobility Julia Poliscanova said Europe risks falling behind on climate compared to China and the US if it allows its policy to be shaped by industry.
"Europe needs to move forward and give clarity to its automotive industry which is in a race with the US and China. E-fuels are an expensive and massively inefficient diversion from the transformation to electric facing Europe's carmakers.
"For the sake of Europe's climate credibility, the 2035 zero-emissions cars deal needs to enter law without any further delay."
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