After 31 countries and also 11 car companies at the World Climate Conference in Glasgow (Great Britain) strive to end petrol and diesel engines, Germany is now certainly dodging after much back and forth, according to “WirtschaftsWoche”. And as the fourth largest car manufacturer, after China, the United States and Japan, as previously suspected in No.
It pledges to “work towards the fact that by 2040 and in leading markets by 2035 or sooner, 100 per cent of new cars and light commercial vehicles are zero-emissions,” the Glasgow announcement said. Great Britain, for example, said yes, and so did car manufacturers such as BYD, Jaguar Land Rover or Volvo, as well as Mercedes and American giants Ford and General Motors (GM). But there is no BMW or Volkswagen.
The Germans are strong in the combustion engine
It was known that Germany hesitated. But politically speaking, our northern neighbor is seen as one of the global drivers on its way to a more climate-friendly future – which is why Glasgow was hoping for later approval. Especially since German car companies see themselves as leaders in electronic drives, and they, like Volkswagen, for example, have announced that they want to become almost pure electric companies. But only approx.
Because the Germans are strong when it comes to combustion engines (and so are the Swiss suppliers, by the way) – and if the Glasgow Convention were to apply, combustion engines as such would be a thing of the past, i.e. fuel-independent. But there is not only fossil gasoline and fossil diesel.
Germany wants to allow the use of e-fuels
Even the German government considers e-fuels, that is, synthetic fuels, wrong: it takes a lot of energy to generate them. German car manufacturers have frozen their efforts in the field of e-fuels, if only because e-mobility costs so much. But if one day generation becomes more efficient or if there is enough green electricity for it, combustion engines can continue. But according to the agreement, they are not allowed to do so.
However, German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (47) said that the “fossil combustion engine” should “expire in 2035”, but that “electronic fuels from renewable energies” should be allowed. BMW CEO Oliver Zipps, 57, also criticized that this was the “wrong way”. But not all evening yet: if e-fuel is ruled out, Germany can still follow suit.
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