EOnly recently did the EU decide to phase out the internal combustion engine in 2035. Nevertheless, the European Commission has now submitted a proposal for stricter emission limits. For more than four years, the Brussels authority has been working on the so-called Euro 7 standards for cars, trucks and buses, which are not intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions but rather the harmful exhaust gases. 70,000 deaths a year were attributed to this; that is more than three times the number of road deaths, argues the EU Commission. Nevertheless, she has postponed the proposal several times because industry and member states have objected to the fact that the EU is overtaxing industry if it also prescribes strict air quality standards in addition to phasing out the combustion engine.
The proposal now submitted ensures that the car industry can achieve both goals, climate protection and air quality, without being overwhelmed, said the responsible Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton at the presentation of the standards. The additional costs would be 100 to 150 euros per car. The target values can be achieved on the basis of existing technology and therefore do not slow down investments in the electric motor, according to the commission.
Breton also justified the fact that the EU authority is presenting new air quality standards in view of the combustion engine in 2035 by saying that the EU is thus setting standards for the entire world, where the combustion engine will still be in use beyond the year 2035. In addition, the electric vehicles, which are up to 40 percent heavier, also caused air pollution due to the abrasion of tires and brakes. Therefore, there should also be limit values for these in the future. What is also new is that there should be minimum standards for the durability of batteries. They should deliver at least 80 percent performance in the first five years or 100,000 kilometers.
Specifically, the emission limit values for cars and light commercial vehicles will remain largely at the previous Euro 6 level. For petrol engines, this means that emissions of nitrogen oxides must not exceed 60 micrograms per kilometer. Since there will no longer be a distinction between diesel and petrol engines in the future, the former will no longer benefit from slightly higher limit values than before.
The decisive difference, however, is that the cars have to comply with the limit values longer than before – 10 years instead of 5 – and the framework conditions for the tests have changed. On the one hand, smaller particles are measured, on the other hand there are fewer exceptions. However, it remains the case that there is a “surcharge” on the limit values for emissions under extreme conditions such as temperatures from minus 10 to 0 or 35 to 45 degrees or speeds between 145 and 160 kilometers per hour. According to EU officials, the factor for this should be 1.6. According to the Commission, this reduces nitrogen oxide emissions from cars by 35 percent.
For buses and trucks, on the other hand, the proposal provides for a noticeable tightening of the limit values. Breton justified this by saying that the potential was greater. In addition, the end of the combustion engine is not in sight here. The additional costs are correspondingly higher at 2700 euros per vehicle. The limits for cars should come into force in mid-2025 and for trucks in mid-2027.
The political debate in the coming months is likely to focus less on the limit values themselves and more on the test conditions. Both the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers must approve the proposal for it to come into force.
The CDU MEP Jens Gieseke has already criticized that the limit values should not be tightened through the back door. “When vehicles have to comply with limit values under the most extreme weather and driving conditions, this is de facto a limit tightening,” he said. Environmentalists and Greens, however, described the limit values as much too high. “This is the Commission’s Dieselgate moment,” said Anna Krajinska of the Transport & Environment Association. The profit of the car industry is valued higher than the death of millions of Europeans.
