How Volker Wissing’s e-fuels regulation could still fail

Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing announced on Saturday with, the way is now clear for vehicles that only fill up with CO2-neutral fuels. This refers to so-called e-fuel cars, i.e. vehicles that fill up with synthetic fuels.

These are – if only electricity from renewable energy sources is used for their production – CO2-neutral. However, the CO2 footprint of these vehicles is still worse than that of electric cars. And the efficiency is also bad.

Or as t3n colleague Frank Feil sums it up: “E-fuels have a questionable climate balance, poor efficiency – and are also expensive to produce.” Even VW sees the future in e-mobility instead of e-fuels .

Irrespective of all the criticism, on March 1, 2023, Wissing – surprising for outsiders – overturned the ban on combustion engines that was about to be passed at EU level from 2035. In order to write an exemption for e-fuel vehicles into the decision.

In the past three weeks, the EU and the federal government had been struggling to reach an agreement – ​​which apparently came about on Friday. Officially, the vote should take place on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, like that Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) writes.

It is therefore planned that first of all a new vehicle category will be created that will be refueled with e-fuels. These cars should be able to continue driving from 2035, after the end of combustion engines.

While Wissmann and EU Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans assume that everything is in sack and bags, there are still a few stumbling blocks. These could bring the whole project to a halt, as the FAZ reports.

In order for e-fuel cars to continue driving after 2035, a “delegated act” is required. This could – stumbling block – be rejected by the European Parliament. According to the FAZ, Wissing does not see a majority for such a blockade.

However, the “delegated legal act” contains another stumbling block, of a legal nature. Because there is no legal basis for this legal act in the relevant law. Therefore, the European Court of Justice could still overturn the whole thing, how Golem writes.

There are already voices from the European Parliament that have brought a corresponding lawsuit into play. Should the “delegated legal act” be rejected, the EU Commission – according to Wissing’s ideas – should bring a legislative proposal. In this case, the CO2 specifications for cars should be revised.

But here the problem lies in the time that would remain for this. Because Wissing wants to have the combustion engine out with the exception of e-fuels by autumn 2024. However, the next elections to the European Parliament will take place in spring 2024.

A complete legislative process is unlikely to be feasible in this short time. However, observers assume that the struggle for the ban on combustion engines could drag on for months – away from the political stage.