Germany strikes deal with EU on phasing out combustion engines

Germany and the European Commission said on Saturday that an agreement had been reached on phasing out combustion engine vehicles.

To the annoyance of some in Brussels, the consensus on the issue was being bolstered by the opposition within Germany’s ruling coalition government.

What was announced?

The deal ends a dispute over whether manufacturers would still be able to make cars using so-called e-fuels after 2035. It would allow cars to be registered after that date, ensuring that any fuel used is exclusively carbon neutral.

“We have reached an agreement with Germany on the future use of e-fuels in cars,” European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans wrote on Twitter.

“We are going to work now to get the CO2 standards for car regulation [sic] adopted as soon as possible, and the Commission will quickly follow up with the necessary legal measures,” he wrote.

German Transport Minister Volker Wissing, who pushed for the amendment, wrote that “vehicles with internal combustion engines can still be re-registered after 2035 if fueled exclusively with CO2-neutral fuels”.

What was behind the dispute?

Germany is home to a major car manufacturing sector, which would have to implement EU legislation.

EU plans to only allow emissions-free cars to be manufactured after 2035 have been put on hold after Germany raised last-minute objections, pushing to allow registration of e-fuel vehicles.

Wissing and his neoliberal Free Democrats, a junior partner in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition, led efforts to revise the deal, rejecting Brussels’ demands for a quick deal.

As of Friday, the German Ministry of Transport and the EU Commission are said to be exchanging letters and proposals to reach an agreement.

Scholz, speaking after an EU summit in Brussels on Friday, said there would be a deal “very soon” to the dispute.

German Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck said any further delay would risk problems within the three-way coalition.

Critics of the e-fuels proposal have argued that manufacturing e-fuels is too expensive and energy-intensive. Using these fuels in a combustion engine car requires about five times as much renewable electricity as running a battery electric vehicle.

rc/wd (AP, Reuters, dpa)