Berlin and Brussels manage to reach an agreement on the use of heat engines, if they use fuel. Can it impact the price of lithium?
By Alejandro Andrés Golob (Grispo Abogados. Commercial Law Department)
28/03/2023 – 10,21hs
The controversy over the date of death of heat engines seemed to have no end. Those who prefer sports cars scorn electric motors, while environmentalists presented them as the only path to salvation. The truth is that no radicalized position could prosper.
Germanythe main automotive manufacturer in Europe, together with Slovakia, Czech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria proposed to consider the use of e fuel: synthetic fuel produced with hydrogen and carbon previously captured or obtained from biomass.
Understanding the specific weight that the Germans have in the EU, but knowing that in solitude all economic activity would become unfeasible, after negotiating, they reach an agreement with the representatives of the European community: cars with thermal engines can be patented after 2035 (date on which it was originally prohibited) as long as they use ecological fuel. This represents a change in the industry paradigm, especially in those brands that bet 100% on electrification and today are affected by the regulatory amendment.
This new situation demolishes myths installed in the industry, propped up by a harsh regulatory framework. Thus triumphs the thesis that electric cars are only part of the solution on the road to reducing CO2 emissions, but not the only one. On the other hand, it makes it clear that it was at least unfeasible to throw overboard millions of cars with thermal engines for the mere purpose of transferring from thermal to electric propulsion. No defender of massive electrification managed to fully explain how lithium batteries, highly polluting when discarded, would be recycled. Even less was it recognized that to produce them C02 was emitted by “burning” energy.
On the other hand, it opens up an enormous opportunity for scientific developments and business in the area of research in the field of e fuel, biofuels and hydrogen propulsion. Italy proposes adding to the amendment the use of “biofuels” in order to protect jobs.
Our country, with a rationally stable economic context, a regulatory package that promotes activity and upholds the rules of the game, could be a leader in automotive energy production. Without going further, Porsche is already investigating the matter in Chilean territory.
The EU reconsiders its position on the use of heat engines
This dynamic and changing international regulatory scheme requires meeting the circumstances. Some will continue to advocate total electrification, an issue that clearly does not seem acceptable in the medium term, even more so given the reluctance of the consuming public to purchase vehicles which they consider “soulless” and whose power supply, when exhausted, renders it useless. : the resale value vanishes. Others will understand on the right track that various models of sustainable environmental protection can be sustained, which generate employment and development.
It seems that lithium will no longer be the only energy outlet. It may never occupy the place of “soybean 2.0” that was believed in our market internal. Given the emergence of substitute fuels, direct competitors, its international price could falter. Is it time to shuffle and give again? It is still early to say so, but we can say that the electric car must coexist with other sustainable formats.
Is there a possibility of economic development in the production of e fuels within Argentina? Can our country be located as an export reference? Everything depends on implementing a scheme of progress, with clear laws and excellent advice, enhancing the comparative advantages of our economy. Energy should be left over, it just deserves to be well managed.
