The European Union on Tuesday gave up on requiring car manufacturers to go all-electric in 2035, a flagship environmental measure, in the face of the crisis the sector is going through in Europe.
Manufacturers will be able to continue to sell after this deadline a limited share of new cars equipped with thermal or hybrid engines, subject to compliance with multiple conditions, and in particular to offsetting CO emissions.2 which will result from these “flexibilities”, specified the European Commission.
A “pragmatic” approach
By relaxing the objective for 2035, the EU is not giving up on its climate ambitions, but is adopting a “pragmatic” approach to the difficulties encountered by the automobile industry, defended European Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné, who piloted this plan, in an interview with AFP.
“The objective remains the same, the flexibilities are pragmatic realities given the support of consumers, the difficulty of manufacturers to offer 100% electric on the market for 2035,” he said.
The ban on the sale of thermal engine cars from 2035 was an emblematic measure of the great “European Green Deal”, to help the EU keep its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050. But Europe, faced with competition from China and trade tensions with the United States, has already postponed or pruned several environmental measures in recent months, in an assumed pro-business shift.
Reduce CO emissions by 90%2
Instead of the ban on new cars with thermal engines which was planned for this deadline, manufacturers will have to reduce the CO2 emissions of their sales by 90% compared to 2021 levels, and compensate for the remaining 10% of emissions. Brussels thus ensures that the sector will be 100% decarbonized by this time.
Manufacturers from the Old Continent have been calling for “flexibilities” for months, while they are weighed down by lastingly sluggish sales, while their Chinese rivals, including BYD, are seeing their market shares soar with their attractively priced electric models.
These relaxations were the subject of intense negotiations between the Commission and the Member States who sought to best defend the interests of their respective industries, until the last moment.
On the one hand, a bloc of countries including Germany and Italy loudly defended “technological neutrality”, that is to say the maintenance of thermal engines after 2035, by promoting more CO-efficient technologies.2 (plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles equipped with range extenders, etc.) and the use of alternative fuels.
Conversely, France and Spain called on the EU to deviate as little as possible from the 2035 objective, so as not to undermine the efforts already made by certain manufacturers to convert to all-electric, and not to destroy the booming electric car battery sector.
Encourage battery production
To respond to these fears, the Commission unveiled on Tuesday a series of measures to support the electrification of the sector, including encouraging the “greening” of company fleets (which will support demand for electric vehicles) and zero-interest loans for the production of batteries.
Mr. Séjourné also confirmed the establishment of a “European preference” in the automobile industry, that is to say the obligation for manufacturers benefiting from public funding to obtain components “made in Europe”. A very concrete way to support the entire chain of equipment manufacturers, suppliers and subcontractors.
Finally, the Commission wants to encourage the development of small electric vehicles at “affordable” prices. A project announced in September by Ursula von der Leyen, “so as not to let China and others conquer this market”.
“Our requests are not optional wishes, they are essential requirements to maintain the profitability of the sector, preserve jobs, finance decarbonization and remain competitive in the face of fierce global competition,” Sigrid de Vries, head of the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA), argued on the eve of these announcements.
The environmental NGO T&E warned on the contrary that slowing down the electrification of the sector would be “a strategic error”, which would further widen the gap between Europeans and Asian competition.
However, if the announced safeguards are well implemented “it is not a change of course”, estimates centrist MEP Pascal Canfin (Renew), for whom thermal cars will be confined after 2035 in a “premium, even luxury” segment.
