To what extent and from when should the emission of harmful exhaust gases be limited? This question drives the car industry and environmental organizations. Everyone emphasizes that the future should belong to electric vehicles in the medium term.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing and industry representatives have warned the EU Commission that the new emissions regulations are too strict and could have consequences for hundreds of thousands of jobs. “Regulation must promote mobility, not prevent it,” Wissing told the German Press Agency in Berlin on Monday.
Systematic shortages due to new requirements endanger the ramp-up of e-mobility, but increasingly also jobs. “When vehicles become more and more expensive without more environmental protection being associated with them, mobility becomes a luxury good,” said the FDP politician. “We need participation in the area through individual mobility – also in the future.”
Car manufacturers and associations have already stated several times that the introduction of the necessary technology to comply with stricter limits for nitrogen oxide emissions is too time-consuming and is likely to make models more expensive – especially smaller cars in relation to the overall price. On the other hand, environmental organizations are calling for diesel and petrol engines to be phased out as soon as possible.
The Commission presented its proposals in November. There are fears that if demand for combustion engines falls, many jobs could disappear. VW emphasized: “We share the assessment that Euro 7 in its current form would have negative employment effects for the European automotive industry.”
Cars biggest source of air pollution in cities
According to the Brussels authority, road traffic is the biggest source of air pollution in cities. The new standard aims to ensure cleaner vehicles and better air quality to protect the health of citizens and the environment. The aim of Euro 7 is to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from cars by 35 percent by 2035, and by over 50 percent from buses and trucks. NOx compounds were also at the center of the emissions scandal, as a result of which several cities had partially enacted diesel driving bans.
“When the automotive industry warns that regulation makes vehicles unnecessarily expensive and hinders the acceleration of e-mobility, that should be taken very seriously,” said Wissing. “The EU Commission cannot, on the one hand, demand high climate protection goals and, on the other hand, prevent their achievement through regulation.” The internal combustion engine can also combine climate protection and mobility with synthetic fuels: “Europe must not prevent this technological solution.”
In their coalition negotiations, the Greens and FDP had argued fiercely about the future of so-called e-fuels. Critics believe that such types of fuel delay a determined exit from combustion technology. Proponents, on the other hand, point to the potential of being able to continue to operate the existing stock of combustion vehicles with them for a while in a way that is less harmful to the climate. Compared to normal petrol, diesel or LPG, the production of e-fuels should put significantly less strain on the raw material cycle and not release any new CO2 that was previously bound for a long time.
Auto countries fear disadvantages for industry
The auto states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony had asked the federal government not to accept the current plans for Euro 7. In the event of implementation, they fear considerable disadvantages for the industry, according to a letter from the Prime Minister to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), which was available to the dpa. The directive is to apply to newly registered vehicles from July 2025. The European Parliament and EU states must agree to the proposals, negotiations are underway. Theoretically, the concept of the Commission can still change quite a bit.
The German Environmental Aid criticized the letter from the car countries and rejected the claim that the technology development was too expensive and not worthwhile in view of the planned phase-out of combustion engines in 2035 as “factually wrong and flimsy arguments”. The three heads of government “lobbyed for BMW, Mercedes and VW at the expense of the citizens who suffer from the harmful exhaust gases,” said DUH boss Jürgen Resch.
Greenpeace demanded that car manufacturers must help emission-free drives to achieve a breakthrough in the coming years. “If Wissing wants to ensure long-term secure jobs in the industry, then he should do everything to put the German car industry at the forefront of the mobility revolution,” explained traffic expert Benjamin Stephan. “More ambitious emissions standards will help.”
Are cars getting much more expensive?
In an open letter to the EU leaders, the chairman of the European car industry association Acea, Renault boss Luca de Meo, called an expected increase in costs for vehicles due to Euro 7 of between seven and ten percent. Up to 300,000 jobs could be at stake. The German industry association VDA and suppliers also expressed strong concerns about the project.
Volkswagen also spoke of “completely unrealistic time targets” – manufacturers and authorities could hardly implement them as quickly as required. The planned strictness of the standards would “tie up large human and financial resources that we could use more sensibly and future-oriented for electrification”. The price estimates given by de Meo are correct.
The automotive industry also complains that the criteria for emissions tests according to the new specifications are too specific. “Air quality is not helped if we make the exhaust emissions of a new combustion engine with full throttle and horse trailer in first gear on a mountain pass in the Alps the measure of all things,” said VW. Real use usually looks different – while the required exhaust technology “should make cheap small cars considerably more expensive”.
The ADAC sees it that way too. “Additional technical requirements and the lack of a legal basis” could make the production of smaller cars “disproportionately expensive,” the automobile club estimates. And the conditions on which the new emissions tests are based include driving situations “that are hardly relevant in practice”.
A BMW spokesman told the trade journal “Automobilwoche”: “Euro 7 should above all regulate pollutants and not be instrumentalized for an earlier end of the combustion engine. This would make the product range unnecessarily expensive.” Some experts also emphasize that overly ambitious cleaning technology is particularly important for small cars, and expect mobility to become more “elitist” in the future.
Source: Stern
