Dashboard light flashes red for the future of the internal combustion engine

 

Dashboard light flashes red for the future of the internal combustion engine

 

Cities, countries and carmakers are setting a final deadline for fossil fuel cars.

Countries, cities and carmakers are setting out plans to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles |

 

BY JOSHUA POSANER, MERLIN SUGUE AND GIOVANNA COI

June 29, 2021 3:19 pm

https://www.politico.eu/article/internal-combustion-engine-ice-phaseout-diesel-petrol-cars-ban-europe/

 

The diesel engine's mass popularity looks unlikely to reach its 150th birthday.

 

First developed in 1893, its obituary is increasingly likely to be written by 2035, alongside its gasoline twin. That's due to the EU's commitment to slash carbon emissions from transport by 90 percent by 2050.

 

"From a climate perspective, we cannot afford to delay the full transition to electric vehicles until later than 2035," said Peter Mock, a managing director at the International Council on Clean Transportation. "Most manufacturers have understood and already adopted or are about to adopt their product plans."

 

It's getting very uncomfortable for both technologies.

 

As POLITICO reported, EU lawmakers are considering setting a 100 percent CO2 emissions-cut target for new cars for 2035 — effectively banning gasoline, diesel and other fuels that use internal combustion engines (ICEs).

 

The idea is that if sales of new combustion engine cars end by 2035, that gives 15 years to get older cars off the road before the mid-century climate neutrality deadline.

 

Many of the bloc’s cities, countries and carmakers are starting to set end dates for fossil fuel cars through an expansion of urban low emission zones and national bans on new polluting vehicle registrations.

 

Seven EU countries have set a phaseout date for petrol and diesel — with Slovenia, Sweden, Ireland and the Netherlands plumping for 2030, Denmark for 2035 and carmaking countries Spain and France settling on 2040. Meanwhile, a nine-country coalition is pushing for the European Commission to mandate an end date for the internal combustion engine.

 

The EU's carmaking behemoth is also shifting. Germany’s Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer said earlier this year that a 2035 end date could work for petrol and diesel, as long as investments are pumped into building up capacity for alternative fuels that would keep the ICE — an engineering specialty for Europe's largest economy — in business.

 

The message is even being heard in car-crazy Brussels — where draconian taxes prompt businesses to reward workers with company cars instead of with cash bonuses. On Friday, city authorities said they wanted to exclude diesel cars from 2030 and gasoline ones by 2035.

 

Carmakers are starting to move. The most aggressive include Volkswagen, Ford and Volvo — announcing the end of fossil fuel cars in certain markets in the coming years.

 

What comes next?

The likeliest replacement candidate for the ICE is the battery electric vehicle, which is why the industry is calling for a massive increase in charging points to calm customers' range anxiety.

 

But there is still a rearguard action being fought by combustion engine backers.

 

Speaking at POLITICO’s Fasten Your Seatbelts event, Sigrid de Vries, who runs the automaker supplier lobby CLEPA, said imposing a 100 percent emissions cut by 2035 would mandate e-cars and throttle efforts to develop alternatives such as synthetic fuels or hydrogen.

 

“Banning the internal combustion engine is an opportunity missed,” said John Cooper from Brussels-based refinery lobby FuelsEurope, arguing that developing alternative fuels would also pay off in aviation and shipping.