[JustChris]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...uels-exemption

Germany has reached a deal with the European Union to allow the continued sale of new ICE cars in the bloc from 2035 as long as they're running on e-fuels.

Sales of new ICE cars were set to be totally banned from 2035 through legislation enforcing a 100% reduction in CO2 emissions from all new vehicles sold. Only low-volume manufacturers (registering fewer than 1000 vehicles per year) were to be exempt.

The final vote on the law – previously expected to be a formality – was postponed after German and Italian diplomats raised objections to the legislated shift to electric cars, demanding an exemption for e-fuels.

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E-fuels are made from CO2 captured from the atmosphere and hydrogen so are claimed to be carbon-neutral by their backers.

The support of German diplomats secured by the promised integration of e-fuels means the final vote on the legislation is now expected to pass.

German transport minister Volker Wissing said on Twitter: “Vehicles with combustion engines can also be newly registered after 2035 if they only use CO2-neutral fuels.”


This is despite further objections from Italy, which is reportedly seeking additional guarantees for the use of biofuels (made from biomass, such as wood waste). However, it doesn't alone form a large enough barrier to block the legislation.

The integration of e-fuels into the EU’s plan to reduce emissions from transport is likely to be welcomed by manufacturers such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche, famed for their combustion engines.

Porsche in particular has been a key driver behind the technology in recent years, having invested $75 million (£61.2m) in Chilean firm Highly Innovative Fuels (HIF).

HIF began operating the Haru Oni plant in Chile in December 2022, producing 130,000 litres of e-methanol for Porsche’s Mobil 1 Supercup race series.


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However, Porsche currently has no plans to sell the fuel to motorists, reserving it for ‘lighthouse’ projects such as the Supercup, as well as its customer-facing experience centres.

In their current form, e-fuels are also prohibitively expensive for many. For example, British firm Coryton’s fuel, used in Prodrive’s Hunter T1+ Dakar rally-raider, costs roughly twice as much as regular unleaded petrol.

Critics also point out that e-fuels require more energy than is needed to power BEVs on a per-mile basis; and don't completely erase local tailpipe emissions, as BEVs do.

[g9icy]

I think this is good!

It means that fuel created purely from renewable sources will be available in the future, lots of money is being poured into this right now, check out Seen Through Glarse and Harry's Garage's videos on this.

Personally if e-fuel was available to buy at a fuel station I'd at least buy £20's worth on occasion just to offset some of my carbon footprint and help fund the innovation.

It doesn't eliminate exhaust fumes, they're the same as normal fuel, but it does mean the carbon dioxide isn't being *added* to the environment, it's like a closed system, assuming 100% of it was sourced from carbon capture in some form.

[agentorange]

The Germans are past masters at this. Why do you think the EU got catalytic converter equipped motors and not the British lean-burn engines? Never mind the unfortunate truth that at that time, the lean-burn motor produced less pollution on typical short runs because of the light off time of the cat. Sure, close-coupled cats and changes to the catalysts themselves largely closed the gap, but at the time it was just the Germans pushing what they already did in the US market.

I wonder if the TV program made (late 80s?) showing the the superiority of lean-burn in instrumented tests is somewhere on Youtube. Probably not, because in today's cancel culture it's not "on message".

[sahajesh]

Germans looking after their own interests.

[KRS_SN]

Who gives a shit...I bet that if you're loaded you'll still be able to buy whatever you want come 2030 or 2035 or whatever.

[JustChris]

Originally Posted by KRS_SN

Who gives a shit...I bet that if you're loaded you'll still be able to buy whatever you want come 2030 or 2035 or whatever.

Right y o then.
Just shut down Bimmerpost, no point starting a conversation

[KRS_SN]

Originally Posted by JustChris

Right y o then.
Just shut down Bimmerpost, no point starting a conversation

Post aimed at the policymakers not at the op postmaker. I'm not a mod ..even if I were i wouldnt shut it down as long as i own a bimmer as there is a lot of valuable information across the forums.

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by KRS_SN

Post aimed at the policymakers not at the op postmaker. I'm not a mod ..even if I were i wouldnt shut it down as long as i own a bimmer as there is a lot of valuable information across the forums.

I can vouch for this place even without owning a bimmer for four years. Wouldnt say the same about all of its denizens though

[Wills2]

Interesting to see that the market share growth of BEV in the UK has stalled Q1 22 vs 23 shows 15.4% vs 15.4%, if that persists then the targets the gov have set are going to be under pressure.

I can see people hanging on to their ICE cars and making do and mending as they have no way of charging and or cannot afford the change over.

Average age of a car in the UK is 8 years old, current all up new car replacement rate is around 5% per year BEV currently 15% of that so less than 1% it's all starting to look a bit fugazi