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The electric car splits the German government after Berlin's No to the stop of diesel and petrol

Italy and Germany vote against the regulation on CO2 emissions which would have taken effect on March 7, outlawing heat engines from 2035 - Uncertainties also in France and Italy proposes a transitional solution

The electric car splits the German government after Berlin's No to the stop of diesel and petrol

Another black smoke for theEuropean electric car. Sweden, the rotating president of the Union, communicated Il postponement to a later date of the meeting for the adoption of the regulation on CO2 emissions for cars and vans which should have taken place on March 7, thus puttingoutlawed since 2035 the registration of heat engines, both diesel and petrol. 

Electric cars: No of Italy and Germany at the 2035 deadline

At no. of Poland and to the abstention of Bulgaria, in the last few days the no of theItalian who thus overturned his opinion of the previous government. But a fourth country was needed for the postponement. And in extremis it moved none other than the Germany, the undisputed flagship of four-wheeled Europe. Berlin, confirming the uncertainties that cross an economy once solidly united behind the watchwords of ordoliberalism, today on the contrary is poised between very different tendencies. 

They were the German auto giants to pave the way for the electric car in the recent past, a quick and effective solution to cancel the shock of the scandal dieselgate. In recent years, then, the big names have not spared their efforts to adapt the industry to the revolution imposed by the transition both in terms of technology and labor relations. A non-painless passage, as demonstrated by the resignation of Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen which he had had the temerity to foresee 30 thousand redundancies with the adoption of electric technologies. 

Effect Havana on the German government

The doubts about the electric without reservations were thus revealed at the last moment splitting the Berlin government. It is no longer the era of Frau Merkel, who has always protected the choices of at home as in Brussels BMW, Mercedes and Audi following the principle that what was decided in Wolfsburg or Stuttgart is equivalent to the national interest. On the contrary, the rainbow majority that governs the country has split in half: on one side the Greens and the SPD lined up for electricity; the liberals sensitive to the criticisms of the conservatives, who had already raised their voices in Brussels speaking of “Havana effect”.

On the Caribbean island, thanks to the embargo decreed by the USA since the advent of Fidel Castro's regime, the american cars of the fifties. The same, argued the EPP MEP Jens Gieseke, will happen in Europe if the electricity obligation is triggered. Industry, held back by the lack of raw materials and energy consumption, it will not be able to produce electric cars necessary. In return, the explosion in costs will make the car a luxury item, forbidden to the middle class with the result of filling the European streets with old cars.

Will it go like this? Or technological evolution, combined with the effort to equip the economy with the necessary infrastructure, will be able to overcome the various shortcomings, not least that of raw material and the problems of battery disposal, which threaten the development of the green car? 

To complicate the puzzle it should be added that the real solution of the clean car goes through a third way: the hydrogen car, a technology in which Europe currently has a relative advantage but which still requires time and huge investments. With the risk that in 2050 a large part of the capital linked to green energy (including columns) will be scrapped. 

The uncertainties of Paris

And certain uncertainties are reflected in the Paris location. French industry has declared itself in favor of the electric car, the trump card of Renault which is about to separate the sector from the rest with a special company, Ampere in which it has involved Nissan. 

But Renault itself has just launched a three-axle with the Chinese Geely and the Saudi oil giant aramco. The new company will focus on internal combustion and hybrid propulsion technologies, with the aim of developing more efficient gasoline engines and hybrid systems, while the other automakers are focusing on the transition to pure electric vehicles. 

The new JV will have an annual production capacity of over 5 million internal combustion engines, hybrids and plug-in hybrids and transmissions per year. 

Possible transitional solutions?

It is difficult, for now, to predict how it will end. Probably a compromise that saves some requests to protect internal combustion engines, as requested by Italy. Or others transitional solutions. For now, however, it can be said that the maximalist choice, more ideological than attentive to the current economic reality, will have to give way to a more pragmatic attitude destined to also invest other no less hot or demanding dossiers. 

It is the attitude espoused by the Italian minister Adolfo Urso. “Italy – he declared – will vote against as a signal for all the activities that the Commission will do in the coming months. Also with regard to the other dossiers still open. Not only those related to the car but also, for example, those on packaging rather than for eco-textiles”. The same attitude followed for food labels. In short, the future of the EU does not pass only through the stability pact but also through issues that have an impact on daily life. And it is great news for democracy.  

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