The German Minister of Transport indicated that synthetic fuels and hybrid engines should be promoted. Against all expectations, it is a coalition government with the Greens within it which could dismantle the Brussels initiative to ban the sale of all engines in 2035, and which had been defended by Angela Merkel. Berlin thus joins the French position.
Is Germany once again making a 180-degree turn on the automotive decarbonization agenda? The German Minister of Transport and Infrastructure in any case indicated on Monday that his government would no longer support the proposal to ban the sale of all thermal engines from 2035, as proposed by the European Commission last July.
In July 2021, the European Commission announced, via the signing of a “green pact”, the end of thermal engines in Europe, knowing that since then, this decision has been debated in Brussels. Indeed, vehicles with hybrid engines are excluded from the agreement validated in the summer of 2021. In addition, remember that, during COP26, around 30 countries and manufacturers committed to collaborating with a common objective, by 2040, so that all new vehicles sold are zero-emission. So much for the current political context.
Volker Wissing therefore opposed the wishes of the European Commission by declaring: "We want combustion engines to remain an option, if they run exclusively on synthetic fuels", on the sidelines of a summit of European transport ministers gathered at Le Bourget as part of the French Presidency of the European Union.
The end of thermal engines in 2035 is a leap towards all-electric technology which raises many questions. To cope with this, the supply of electrical energy is at the center of all concerns. Nuclear power remains the only solution to achieve this, both in terms of electricity production and even hydrogen.
Dependent on carbon-based electricity, Germany, unlike France, must find solutions to defend its mobility and its entire automobile industry in a context of strong inflation in all energies since the health crisis.
Volker Wissing also highlighted the expertise of German manufacturers in terms of engine development: “We are very good at producing high-performance gasoline engines. However, they emit CO2. We must offer means of mobility adapted to each need. We cannot only count on electric mobility and hydrogen for the future […]. We will only achieve our climate goals if we offer mobility services that people see as progress. »
On the side of car manufacturers, things are also changing: research into synthetic fuels has been accelerating for several months, notably through manufacturers like Porsche. For Ducati, the future lies in synthetic fuel rather than electricitye. It will remain to find the economic balance of this new energy, synthetic fuel being today much more expensive to produce than carbon gasoline.
Last month, in France, Carlos Tavares, the boss of Stellantis, strongly opposed all-electricity by declaring, among other things, in four European dailies: "What is clear is that electrification is the technology chosen by politicians, not by industry. »
Finally, Europe and France are far from ready to switch to all-electric. At the beginning of February, as part of another gathering linked to the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, foreign affairs and health ministers from across Europe met in Lyon. The electric vehicles then used to transport them were recharged thanks to… diesel generators!
