The European Parliament and its 27 member states on Monday ruled out any toughening of EU car emissions standards to spare the car industry additional costs as it faces investment in electric cars, AFP reported.

However, the new Euro 7 standard, approved by co-legislators on Monday evening, will for the first time in Europe lower emissions thresholds for heavy goods vehicles and introduce limits on particulate emissions from brake and tire wear.

Longer service life of electric vehicle batteries

It also sets minimum requirements for battery life in electric and hybrid vehicles. They will have to retain at least 72% of their power after eight years or 160,000 km.

Parliament and member states still have to formally approve the agreement before it can enter into force. The new rules will only come into force 30 months after entry into force for cars and minibuses and four years after entry into force for buses and trucks.

These rules are less ambitious than those proposed by the European Commission in November 2022. France and Italy have been at the forefront of protecting the interests of the car industry and its 14 million jobs in the EU.

In September, the NGO Transport and Environment condemned the “air quality disaster” and regulations that “put the record profits of car manufacturers ahead of public health”.

Nearly a dozen major European cities, including Paris, Rome and Brussels, have previously asked the European Parliament to tighten standards “on air quality and vehicle exhaust,” AFP reported.

For their part, automakers warn of the impact of overly strict standards on jobs and on car prices that are already increasingly out of reach for the middle class.

On Monday evening, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) welcomed the “planning certainty” provided by the new standard.

Faced with huge investments in the development of their new electric models in the face of extreme competition from Tesla and Chinese manufacturers, automakers wanted to avoid further investments in internal combustion engines, which are doomed anyway.

No new petrol and diesel cars from 2035

The European Union has decided to stop selling new gasoline and diesel cars from 2035 in favor of 100% electric cars.

This planned phase-out of internal combustion engines will help reduce polluting gases and CO2 emissions from private cars, as the EU aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

“We have found a balanced solution for the new Euro 7 emissions standard that will improve air quality for our citizens while avoiding an additional burden on industry,” said MEP Jens Giesecke, a negotiator from the right-wing EPP group.