After the vote in the EU Parliament, supporters made little effort to hide their triumph over the so-called “combustion ban”. Together, across factions and countries, the battery-electric passenger car was the only way out of the climate crisis. But now there is open resistance in Germany, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, among associations and manufacturers. A shitstorm is raging across the country. Now everyone should be prepared. So here are the key arguments once more:
Some call it a goal, others a utopia: 15 million battery-electric cars are to be registered in Germany by 2035. Today there are perhaps more than 800,000. Germany is a rich country. We will manage to get our supply chains for battery ingredients, finished cells and entire batteries up and running even without China and in competition with Asian car manufacturers, for example. By then, we will have reduced coal-fired power generation to such an extent that an electric car actually emits less CO2 than a diesel. We will be proud of this achievement. But just a few days ago we received the message that for the first time more than 60 million motor vehicles have been registered in Germany.
The fact is therefore: in 2035, three out of four motor vehicles will still be powered by combustion engines.
Not only the Russian attack, but also climate change have ensured that the protection of people from harmful exhaust gases has receded into the background. At the beginning of the discussion, environmental politicians called for vehicles that do not emit harmful exhaust gases because of the people. In the language of the legislator, this became the obligation to have “emission-free” automobiles. This means that all cars with exhaust pipes are banned, whether they come out with the scent of violets, pure water or the carbon dioxide that was used to make the fuel and is now being released. We have processes that make petrol and diesel for cars and ships and even kerosene for jets possible from plant residues, green hydrogen and electricity – climate-neutral e-fuels.
Nevertheless, this fact is often suppressed: the combustion engine is not bad for the climate. It’s the fuels that we fill it up with.
Just last week, the Federal Association of the Aerospace Industry (BVLR) claimed e-fuels for themselves. Because the liquid alternative fuels can be treated like fossil kerosene. Technical changes to the infrastructure or aircraft are hardly necessary. The same applies to e-ship diesel and e-fuel for trucks. The European Union expressly promotes this type of use of alternative fuels. However, the EU strictly rejects the same fuels only for cars, on the grounds that they are too ineffective and too expensive for private cars.
For Brussels, the fact is: Useful traffic gets alternative fuels, while personal (useless) traffic is denied it.
The decision once morest e-fuels creates a contrast between town and country. Electromobility has a chance in the countryside that it doesn’t have in the city, because the usual development with single-family houses makes it easier to charge electric cars in the private environment. This is still missing across the city. For this, the city dweller has bus and train, but also usually the shorter distances. The result of the recent elections in Berlin is also interpreted as follows: The green transport policy was only liked in the center. In the rural outskirts, the green traffic obstruction policy, with its mixture of road closures, refusal to build new buildings, and express cycle lanes, did not stand a chance.
And so it becomes a fact: We divide the citizens of this country into S-Bahn users and country bumpkins.
But the division of our society will continue. The willingness to buy electric cars might be greater. If we’re going to hit 15 million in less than 12 years, we’re going to need a lot more real or forced enthusiasm with a push and pull system. However, the current environmental bonus only covers part of the e-surcharge. The pressure has to bring success. The pattern is also known from Berlin: costs for combustion engines are high, roads and parking areas are blocked, alternatives such as two-wheelers are promoted, motorists are socially ostracized and so on as is well known. And already society is divided into you up there and we down here.
Fact: Our country is becoming a two-class society of privileged car owners and those who have been relegated to the world who have to do without personal mobility with their car. (cen/Rudi Mentar)
