By Irina Slav
The European Union has finalized an agreement to phase out internal combustion engine cars by 2035 by enforcing a zero-emission regulation on carmakers in the bloc.
National government negotiators, the European Parliament, and the European Commission all agreed to make carmakers reduce their emissions to zero by 2035, which is an effective ban on the sales of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles after that year.
“This deal is good news for car drivers… new zero-emission cars will become cheaper, making them more affordable and more accessible to everyone,” Jan Huitema, chief negotiator for the European Parliament said.
The EU’s lead on the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, also welcomed the news, saying “Europe is embracing the shift to zero-emission mobility,” as quoted by Reuters.
The proposal for the ban of internal combustion engine vehicles across the European Union was made earlier this year and drew criticism from the car manufacturing industry.
The head of the German car industry association, Hildegard Mueller, said in June, when the proposal was first made, that Europe’s charging infrastructure is insufficiently developed for the EV targets the shift would entail. She also warned that the Commission, which made the proposal, was acting prematurely.
Besides such concerns, however, there are even more direct ones that will in all likelihood interfere with the zero-emission plans of the EU. Chief among them is an expected shortage of copper, which is used heavily in electric vehicles.
The world is already short on the basic metal and the deficit is only set to widen in the coming years as there is no new supply coming on stream soon, aside from a few mine expansions.
Battery technology is also a potential challenge—with raw materials getting costlier due to strong demand and catching up supply, battery costs continue keeping total EV costs higher than ICE car costs, too, discouraging drivers from making the switch.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com