After a long back and forth, the EU environment ministers have now come out in favor of a ban on internal combustion engines in cars from 2035. A small back door remains open, also because of concerns from the FDP.

EU Environment Minister for ban on combustion engines

The discussion between the EU environment ministers is said to have lasted 16 hours before the result was known. The ministers responsible for the environment in the 27 EU countries have come out in favor of a ban on new registrations of Cars with conventional internal combustion engines from 2035 pronounced. The “fleet limits” are to be reduced to zero by this year. From then on, new cars and vans will no longer be allowed to emit any CO₂ in operation.

Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck is already talking about “largest climate protection package, which has been forged in Europe for 15 years”. According to Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, the car industry now has planning security (source: daily News).

Meanwhile Germany continues to fight for e-fuels, i.e. climate-friendly synthetic fuels. In particular, the FDP would like to continue to enforce that new cars can be refueled with them after 2035. EU Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans, on the other hand, does not consider e-fuels to be a “realistic solution”. Should manufacturers be able to come up with better solutions in this area, then the EU will “be open”.

Is switching to an electric car worth it?

Combustor off: Manufacturers have long been switching

It is now doubtful whether the established car manufacturers will still be producing cars with combustion engines in 2035. Opel wants to be fully electric as early as 2028 Audi has set itself the target of 2033. Volkswagen sees the end of the European market between 2033 and 2035. At Mercedes, 2038 was originally given as the target, but now they are thinking about saying goodbye much earlier.