EU Lawmakers Back Effective Ban on New Fossil-Fuel Cars from 2035

by Kate Abnett (Reuters) Lawmakers on the European Parliament’s environment committee on Tuesday backed an EU plan to effectively ban new petrol and diesel car sales from 2035, while voting against proposals for tougher targets to cut car CO2 emissions within this decade.

The committee supported the proposal for a 100% cut in CO2 emissions by 2035, which would make it impossible to sell new fossil fuel-powered vehicles in the 27-country bloc.

The European Commission proposed the targets as part of a bigger package of climate change policies last July, on the basis that new cars stay on the roads for 10 to 15 years – meaning that 2035 is the latest date that sales of polluting cars could halt, without jeopardising the bloc’s plan to have net zero emissions in all sectors by 2050.

The committee did not back a proposal from some lawmakers to increase the ambition of the Commission’s proposal for a 55% cut in CO2 emissions from cars by 2030 versus 2021 levels. Nor did they back proposals from other lawmakers to water down the 2035 goal.

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The whole European Parliament will vote on the car CO2 proposals in the coming months, after which lawmakers and EU countries must negotiate the final rules. READ MORE

Diesel and petrol car owners hit as Ford backs EU’s plan to ban the vehicles by 2035 (Express)

Another blow for petrol & diesel car owners as euro lawmakers back complete ban from 2035 (Express)

‘Wasteful!’ EU’s petrol and diesel ban targets the poor and will create ‘class division’ (Express)

Brexit news: Drivers react to EU’s complete ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2035 (World Wide News)

Top 5: A Range of Fuel Types Needed to Decarbonize Shipping (Transport Energy Strategies)

EU lawmakers endorse ban on combustion-engine cars in 2035 (Associated Press)

On a High Note: EU Passes Landmark Package of Climate Protections (World War Zero; includes VIDEOS)

EU’s 2035 ban on new thermal cars won’t spell the end of biofuels, industry says (EurActiv)

Ford hits out at delay to new petrol car ban (BBC)

Excerpt from Express: Ford is one of 25 large companies to put its name to a petition calling on the European Union to ban the sale of new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars and vans from 2035. The car manufacturer has already committed to phasing ICE vehicles out of its line-up by 2035 and achieving net-zero carbon neutrality at the same time.

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They were based around the proposal that new cars stay on the roads for 10 to 15 years - meaning that 2035 is the latest date that sales of polluting cars could stop without affecting the plan to have zero emissions by 2050.

To support this initiative, the European arm of Ford has called on the EU to "establish mandatory targets for charging infrastructure" with a view to facilitating the mass switchover to EVs.

The company did not suggest what these targets should be, but a recent report from accounting giant Ernst and Young showed that Europe would need 65 million chargers in operation by 2035 to accommodate around 130 million electric vehicles.

Some 85 percent of these devices, Ernst and Young said, would need to be installed at homes. READ MORE

Excerpt from Express: And now, a former TopGear presenter and the founder of FairCharge, Quentin Willson, has slammed the EU for putting the ban forward too soon.

The electric vehicle advocate exclusively told Express.co.uk: “Saying that you are going to take all those diesel and petrol cars off the road is wasteful and means that disadvantaged drivers will have no zero-emissions mobility.

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“We don’t want that situation where the people who don’t have driveways, don’t have off-street parking can’t afford to replace their combustion car with an EV because the demand and prices are still so high.“ READ MORE

Excerpt from Transportation Energy Strategies: My review of country policies, statements and intentions find that hybrids are generally excluded from the ZEV definition.

Most of these countries are actually in the EU, and a number of them had already announced an intention (not actual enforceable policy) to ban the ICEV by 2030, including: Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Scotland (2032), Slovenia and Sweden.

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Notably, France’s ban, which is legislated (but with no enforcement requirements), is scheduled for 2040; for the Netherlands, 2045; for Spain, 2050. The 100% CO2 reduction requirement also sidesteps another issue: whether member states actually had the legal authority to implement a ban. READ MORE

Excerpt from EurActiv: “I voted against the 100% target, I voted in favour of 90%,” centre-right Finnish MEP Henna Virkkunen, a member of the parliament’s industry and transport committees, told a EURACTIV event last week.

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According to Virkkunen, “this is still a question of technology neutrality. It’s missing often when we speak about transport issues.”

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Lifecycle emissions

The Parliament’s position matched the European Commission’s original proposal. But the idea of a 100% emissions reduction faces a rough ride in the Council, where transport ministers from the EU’s 27 national governments are less convinced that a full phase-out of the combustion engine is possible by 2035.

Speaking at the event, Bernd Kuepker, a policy officer in the European Commission’s energy department, said it is logical that the focus should be on electric mobility.

“We know that we have a limited amount of resources, and we need to decide where to put them,” he said. “Fuels based on molecules will be difficult to produce, so we should only use them in those sectors where other alternatives are not so easily available, like aviation, shipping or industry.”

“Therefore, we have high hopes that electrification for passenger cars will be a rather easy solution, the dominant solution, because the electric engine has a very high efficiency and can contribute to the overall energy system as a whole since the batteries can also be used for demand response,” Kuepker said.

So would a 100% emissions reduction target for cars by 2035 spell the end of biofuel for cars?

“No, I don’t think that’s the end of biofuels,” said Valérie Corre, European Director for Regulatory Affairs at French bioethanol producer Tereos.

“Today as we speak most people buy internal combustion engines or hybrids,” she remarked. Considering that the average lifetime of a car is ten to twelve years, “this brings us to 2035 at best,” she added.

If as of that date only electric vehicles are allowed for sale in Europe and there aren’t enough charging points, “then what is this consumer going to do?” Corre asked. “He’s going to keep his car as much as possible”.

According to Corre, this means the actual end of thermal engine vehicles in Europe will rather happen around 2040 or later.

“When we get there we perhaps change the course of things. So it’s not the end of bioethanol.”

However, Corre said the legislation would unfairly penalise biofuels because doesn’t take the full lifecycle analysis of electric vehicles into account – where emissions are produced during the manufacturing of the vehicle, the production of the battery and the generation of the electricity.

“A number of stakeholders have requested that the 100%, or the 90%, be calculated on a fair basis – meaning a full lifecycle analysis,” Corre said. “If we say an electric car is zero emissions just because you measure emissions at the tailpipe, and you ignore completely all the upstream emissions, this is not fair. This is wrong.”

Once the full lifecycle emissions are considered, a hybrid-electric car running half the time on a high ethanol blend (E85) would emit “much less” than an electric car, Corre said. “Factually there is no reason to discriminate.”

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Biofuels: ‘A crucial role’ to decarbonise the existing car fleet

On the European Commission’s side, Kuepker acknowledged that the full lifecycle is not being calculated at the moment.

“The experts differ in their views on how much an electric car currently saves with regard to emissions – depending on the assumptions, where you go, how you use it, what is the emissions mix,” he explained.

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Kuepker acknowledged that motorists will continue to rely on fuels in the current stock of cars, saying those will likely remain there for a long time.

“Biofuels will play a role there,” he said. “But they can be then switched to be used in other sectors.”

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“When it comes to biofuels, we know there are some that can make a positive impact,” he said. “We’re particularly interested in advanced biofuels. But the problem is the demand for fuel in the EU transport sector is utterly colossal.”

“So while you may be able to have an E85 car which is very very low emissions, especially if youv’e got cellulosic ethanol, that’s fine. But if you look at a country like Germany, the demand is absolutely colossal.” READ MORE; includes VIDEO