There will not be a complete ban on internal combustion engines for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in the EU from 2035 after all. According to the EU Commission and the German Federal Ministry of Transport, an agreement has been reached in the debate on the future of internal combustion engines. "It is a wise and forward-looking decision that all technological solutions can continue to be used to achieve the ambitious climate protection targets - electromobility as well as climate-neutral eFuels and hydrogen," says Hartmut Rauen, Deputy Managing Director of VDMA. Synthetic fuels are also essential because combustion engines in mobile machinery from excavators to tractors need eFuels to be climate-neutral.

The details of the implementation of the Delegated Act in CO2 fleet regulation are still unclear. But concrete procedural steps and a specific timetable have been made binding. The process is to be completed by the fall of 2024, and VDMA will be closely involved in it.

The current negotiations were preceded by the clear stance of German Transport Minister Volker Wissing that he would only agree to a compromise if the EU Commission allowed the use of climate-friendly eFuels in internal combustion engine-powered passenger cars newly registered after 2035. A proposal from the Commission, based on the so-called recital 9a, was still pending until last. "The opening for eFuels, which has been completed after all, is right and important," says Peter Müller-Baum, Managing Director of VDMA Engines and Systems and Power-to-X for Applications. "eFuels support climate protection and the economy." Müller-Baum expects that investments in corresponding fuel production will now be significantly increased.

Currently, well over 320 million passenger cars are registered in Europe, and the vast majority are powered by an internal combustion engine. Fueled with eFuels based on renewable energy, these vehicles can be operated in a climate-neutral manner in the future - an enormous advantage, because although electromobility is becoming more and more established, fleet renewal still takes time. In addition, investments in eFuels for road transport will also benefit sectors that are unlikely to be decarbonized in any other way: mobile machinery in construction and agriculture, as well as ships and aircraft.