There Germany brand sound victory in the conflict with the European Commission on the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035. Cars with Combustion engine they can continue to be sold if they work exclusively with e-fuelin which German industry has invested heavily in recent years. Italy’s proposal who joins Germany to let biofuels through, it was excluded from the derogation.

GERMANY RUNS SOLO AND APPROVED E-FUEL

As we anticipated live from #FORUMAutoMotive, through the statements of Minister Gilberto Pichetto, Italy bets heavily on biofuels to protect the industrial chain of the ban on the sale of ICE cars from 2035. Among the countries that opposed the ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2035, Germany succeeded in convincing the European Commission to include the e-fuels, fuels said to be of synthetic origin, in the text which regulates CO2 emissions from cars. The Vice-President of the European Commission, Francois Timmermans, predicted that after 2035 endothermic engines would not disappear. And a few days later he announced publicly the European Commission’s agreement with Germany on Twitter (below), which closes the door to Italy on biofuels.

We have reached an agreement with Germany on the future use of electric fuels in cars.

We will now work to get the regulation on CO2 standards for cars adopted as soon as possible, and the Commission will quickly follow the legal steps necessary to implement recital 11.

— Frans Timmermans (@TimmermansEU) March 25, 2023

PRODUCTION OF BIOFUELS IN ITALY: WHAT WILL THEY BE WITHOUT THE EUROPEAN AGREEMENT?

ICE cars powered exclusively by e-fuel are safe, only the formality of the rules that define this new category of vehicles is missing carbon neutral like electric cars. The Italian government hopes for repentance from the European Commission, considering that Italy is among the main countries that have developed a biofuel production chain. Biogas and biodiesel from biomass (mainly plant and animal waste), but also numerous research projects on bioethanol from industrial waste such as pomace. In Italy, ENI is the leader in the production of biofuels in biorefineries in Venice and Gela where proprietary technologies have been developed for the production of biofuels from raw materials that do not compete with the food chain. From these refineries are produced biodiesel, bio naphtha, bio LPG and bio jet fuel. Biofuels which, according to European Commission directives, will have to be mainly intended for sectors where electrification is not possible on a large scale (aircraft, maritime transport, etc.).

E-FUEL: GERMANY HAS A STRONG INTEREST IN SYNTHETIC PETROL

With the opening of the European Commission to e-fuels, Germany will have a clear advantage considering that most investments come mainly from the German automotive industry. Key members of the e-fuel Alliance include Porsche, Mahle, Siemens, ZF, Bosch and many more who have invested in the first pilot plant for the production of synthetic gasoline in Chile. than those of traditional fuels. The most common doubts about e-fuelbeyond the political neutrality of the openness of the European Commission, mainly concern the high cost of producing synthetic gasoline against an increase of a few cents for biofuels compared to traditional ones.