EU members agree to support the 2035 ICE ban

A lot has been said in recent days about the proposed 2035 EU wide ban on sales of new fossil fueled cars. Only yesterday we reported that 5 countries objected to it on the basis of infrastructure development delays and electric car affordability. After late night talks the EU lawmakers came to an agreement just after 2am and all the member countries now will support the proposed legislation.

The objections from the 5 opposing members were addressed and they gave up their request to extend the 2035 deadline by extra 5 years. The proposed compromise of using so-called “environmentally safe” fuels was eventually rejected, in essence meaning the combustion engine technology has an expiry date.

It’s a huge step for the EU on its way to 2055 net zero policy. It’s not a done deal either, now the agreed proposal will be put to EU member parliaments for voting and it can still be rejected. Although all members initially agree on it the parliaments will have a final say.

There is more good news - the EU agreed to limit the greenhouse gases emissions by 55 percent by 2030 as opposed to the initial proposal of 40 percent reduction. There will be a social fund set up to shield the lowest income citizens from the costs of the new policy. The fund was proposed initially to be €72 billion but it was lowered to €59 billion.

Another part of the agreement is the new carbon market for heating and road transport fuel which will be delayed now by a year. The EU Emissions Trading System will be strengthened and will introduce new price-control mechanisms. The new limits for the cap-and-trade program are a 61 percent reduction of emissions from 2005 levels by year 2030.

Interestingly Lamborghini has won an exception rule - it will be able to extend its lower emissions targets all the way to 2035, unlike the rest of the vehicle industry who will have to comply with lower emissions by 2029. Lamborghini is Italy’s largest agricultural vehicle manufacturer and wouldn’t be able to comply with the 2029 deadline.

It’s really good news overall, with some exceptions the EU has taken another step towards carbon neutrality. It won’t be an easy journey though. The social fund will struggle to cover the costs of shifting the entire energy market to CO2 neutral technology for the most vulnerable people. The car industry will deliver the change, the infrastructure will be built on time but a lot of people across the EU will pay a hefty price for this change.

In just over 12 years the combustion engine era will come to an official end - if the EU countries actually agree and sign the new legislation. It’s unthinkable that technology we have built the world on is about to become history. It will be a different world, future generations won’t even know what combustion engine was. Kids will most likely learn about the sound of V8 from YouTube. Who will tell them about rotary engines? But with all honesty - it’s about time we have moved on to a far more efficient technology. It’s time to put effort into storage and charging technology, the future is bright. Expensive, but bright.

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