The European Union announced a controversial plan to force automakers to only sell electric vehicles on the continent starting in 2035. This topic has been the cause of much debate and was met with backlash especially from automakers, but now it looks like the three main EU institutions that need to align in order to make it happen have agreed to a deal that will effectively make it impossible for ICE vehicles to be sold in the EU after the middle of next decade.
This includes gasoline, diesel, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles, anything that still burns fuel to make energy.
Today the European Commission, the European Parliament and all of the EU member states agreed to adopt the “Fit for 55” package of laws whose stated goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on the continent by 55 percent by the year 2030, before going up to 100 percent by 2035. The final step to actually formally approve the laws before they can actually start to be enforced - this will be voted into law by the Parliament and member countries.
According to Pascal Canfin, a member of the European Parliament,
We have just finished the negotiations on CO2 standards for cars. Historic (EU) decision for the climate which definitively confirms the target of 100 percent zero emission vehicles in 2035 with intermediary phases between 2025 and 2030.
This is a historic decision, as it sets for the first time a clear decarbonization pathway — with targets in 2025, 2030 and 2035 and aligned with our goal of climate neutrality by 2050
With this historic change, the European Union wants to drastically reduce transport-derived emissions by 2050 and encourage alternative means of propulsion other than internal combustion engines for passenger cars. They are said to account for over 61 percent of the continent greenhouse gas emissions that come from road transport, although their share of the total emissions is much lower at 15 percent, while road transportation in general accounts for just under 25 percent.
The only manufacturers that will be allowed to continue selling internal combustion-engined vehicles right until the end of 2035 will be niche companies making under 10,000 vehicles per year. This is apparently known as the “Ferrari amendment” but it applies to several other low-volume sports car manufacturers based on the Old Continent.
