Despite protests from large parts of the automotive industry, the EU is adamant that the purchase of both new diesel and gasoline cars should be prohibited from 2035.
The EU insists on a ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars from 2035.
This means that in future it will only be possible to buy cars that do not emit CO2. The aim is to reduce the transport sector's climate impact and promote the use of cars that run exclusively on electricity.
Reuters writes.
While the Danes, among others, are buying more and more electric cars – at the beginning of 2024, 344,423 electric cars were registered in Denmark – interest is cooler in the rest of the EU.
In fact, new figures from ACEA, the association of European car brands, show that just 1.8 percent of the European car fleet runs on electricity.
The EU still believes that a ban on the combustion engine is necessary
This is in stark contrast to the situation in Denmark. Of the 164,183 new and imported cars for private individuals, 121,817 were electric cars, which corresponds to 74.2 percent.
However, the popularity is due to the fact that the state supports electric cars with very low or no registration fees. The government is not ready to change that either.
In parallel with this development, the number of diesel and petrol cars has decreased. In 2021, there were 66,575 electric cars on Danish roads, and in four years the number has more than fivefold.
During the same period, the number of diesel cars has been reduced by 160,492, corresponding to a decrease of approximately 20 percent. The number of petrol cars has fallen by 93,055, corresponding to around five percent.
It is still too early to say whether the EU's repeated decision to ban all gasoline and diesel cars will change consumers' appetite for electric cars.
Because the car brands can't really feel it. That is, the desire. Instead, several of the big ones – such as Volkswagen – have built up a debt that is so massive that it threatens to close the entire business.
And at Nissan, director Makoto Uchida has no doubt that the brand will close if there is no rescue plan.
The transition, which may or may not be underway in Europe, has also raised questions about infrastructure and capacity in the electricity grid, and there is still debate about how electric cars perform in terms of range and charging times.
But you don't actually need to look abroad to find the problems caused by electric cars. In a small station town in Zealand, 400 liters of diesel must be used per day to charge electric cars. Read more about it here .
There are already political discussions about how the transition should take place and how to ensure a stable supply of electricity and the expansion of the charging infrastructure.
Several – especially among the German subcontractors to and in the automotive industry – have criticized the EU's decision.
Bosch, among others, believes that a total ban on fossil-fueled cars limits consumer choice. Others, such as BMW, point out that it is necessary for the EU to remain open to technological solutions, as the electric car cannot stand alone.
