His heterogeneity had not yet made him suffer on the question. At the beginning of March, the European Union had to downgrade as its vote to ban thermal cars in 2035 approached. Germany, the first power in the alliance, did its about-face, quickly joined by the Italy, the Czech Republic or even Poland. The project is now at a standstill.
If existence precedes essence, as Sartre explained to summarize his remarks on existentialism, we can say that it is very different from ecology in 2023. Essence, the truth !, was the subject of new amendments discussed on Monday 27 March between the 27 ambassadors of the Member States. The easing specificities desired by countries resistant to stopping the internal combustion engine have passed.
France, with its Minister Delegate in charge of Transport, Clement Beaune, has nevertheless signaled that it will appeal to this decision to maintain the initial text, which means goodbye to the heat engine in 12 years. “No, the text on the ban on thermal cars in 2035 has not been modified and will not be”he wrote on Twitter, in response to a first post announcing the victory of his German, Czech, Italian and Polish counterparts.
“We are ready to go to arm wrestling on this subject because it is an environmental fault” already exclaimed Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, on Monday March 13 on franceinfo. In question, e-fuel, a synthetic fuel that Germany and Italy want to be able to keep in order to be able to give a future to their brands of sports cars. Porsches and Ferraris. Both are the main reason for countries’ interest in modifying the texts of European directives.
“I can’t tell our two major manufacturers Stellantis and Renault, who made the courageous choice to switch to electric: wait, we’re finally going to go electric but we’re still going to stay a little thermal” added Bruno Le Maire three weeks ago. A valid argument for Renault, decidedly determined to turn to electric (despite its joint venture Horse), but a little less for Stellantis, whose boss Carlos Tavares has always been resistant to a too rapid and forced transition.
Blame it on Porsche and Ferrari
If Germany is the country most motivated to change things, it is because its manufacturer Volkswagen has already invested heavily in synthetic fuel. Production started in September 2022 between Porsche, Siemens Energy, Exxon Mobil and Enel Green Power, not far from Cape Horn in Chile. The German manufacturer wants to be able to release up to 550 million liters per year by 2026, and has already invested several hundred million dollars to complete the project.
Porsche and Ferrari may sell far fewer cars than traditional manufacturers, yet the two brands are among the best performing on the stock market. One like the other saw the price of its share explode, the profit margins of each copy sold much higher than with the competition. Ferrari even has total control over its production, to enable it to juggle between a turnover in perpetual growth and a culture of the rarity of its controlled models.
This situation highlights “deeper questions about the economic and social forces at play in Europe’s transition to green technologies”wrote in a billet l’agence Automotive Newsreferring to the particularly conservative image of the automobile industry. “I would say it’s almost pathetic”commented the boss of the Polestar brand (100% electric today), Thomas Ingenlath, during an interview. “Industry and politicians should finally give a very clear signal on the way forward”he added.
Only here, in Germany, according to a study by Nordlight Research dating from November 2022, nearly three quarters of Germans said they wanted their next car to be equipped with a combustion engine.
E-fuel: past, present, future
In Germany, however, synthetic fuel does not have this threat image at the end of the combustion engine as understood. For her, this is already an advance, carbon neutral, essentially formed from (renewable) electricity transformed into combustible liquid fuel. To produce it, you have to mix hydrogen with carbon dioxide already present in the atmosphere. Then the exhausts will spit out that CO2 again, but there won’t be more than there was before production (hence the “neutral” look).
What is also called e-fuel today is not new. Its original process called Fischer-Tropsch, was invented in 1925. During the Second World War, Germany had also used it for its machines then short of oil. If its production is picking up again today, and at a steady pace, it is because it will be integrated into Formula 1 in 2026. The championship king of the world of motorsport will indeed switch to synthetic fuel for the same purpose. than Porsche and Audi: preserve the lightness of the cars… and the sound of their engines.
Whether or not to put the brakes on Europe’s ecological policy, it is ironically on the side of the automotive braking specialist Brembo that the question finds its best answer. “The trend towards electrification of the automotive industry is at this point a kind of crazy train. (…) It could be even worse to stop or delay due to the huge investment of car manufacturers”commented Roberto Vavassori, an executive of the manufacturer based in Italy.
“The main question is how and where are we going to find all the clean energy that the electrical transition process needs. We may soon realize that Europe will not be ready for this, in terms of infrastructure, in 2035”.
