Love e-fuels, not the internal combustion engine

This Monday (16 October), EU environment ministers adopted their position on the CO2 standards for heavy-duty vehicles.

Despite Italy threatening to block the adoption over a mechanism called the “Carbon Correction Factor” (CCF), ministers ultimately decided against including it — for now.

The CCF has been the subject of a huge lobbying effort, both in the Council of member states and the European Parliament.

With the CCF mechanism, emissions calculated for diesel trucks would be reduced according to the actual fuel mix, which does not only include fossil diesel but already today a percentage of biodiesel and potentially e-fuels in the future.

A higher share of bio- and e-diesel would mean lower emissions on paper for new diesel trucks, which means that more of those could be sold under the same emission reduction targets than would otherwise be the case.

However, one problem emerges: The amount of renewable fuels in the diesel mix is decided elsewhere, namely in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) finally adopted last week, and in its national implementation through greenhouse-gas quotas for fuels.

With or without the CCF for trucks, there is no obligation, nor any economic incentive, for fuel makers to bring more bio- or e-fuels to the market than what is set as a target in the RED.

The lobbying effort for the CCF therefore has one goal, and one goal alone: To allow more combustion-engine trucks to be sold after 2040.

So why, you could ask, is the eFuel Alliance, an organisation which says its main goal is to advocate for the uptake of e-fuels, pushing so hard for it, given that it does nothing to increase the amount of e-fuels?

Bigger is not always better

In the United States of America, the customer is always right. In Europe, the customer is only occasionally right.

The American customer may ask for substitutions for their meal – replacing key ingredients to better suit their palate. In Europe, the chef knows best how the food should taste – requests for alterations may be denied (particularly if dining in Italy).

And in America, if a customer wants to drive a gargantuan vehicle, one grossly out of proportion to the environment around it, it is their right. In Europe, tastefully compact cars are preferred over exhaust-spewing behemoths.

But perhaps that is changing. More and more American-style pickup trucks are hitting the streets of Europe – to the alarm of safety, consumer and environmental campaigners.

A letter addressed to five Commissioners by a group of European road safety and environmental organisations warns that a legislative loophole is allowing American-market pickup trucks (in particular the Dodge Ram) to enter the EU whilst avoiding safety and environmental laws.

The number of US pickup trucks registered in the EU more than doubled since 2019, rising from 2,900 new registrations to 6,800 in 2022.

These vehicles are “unsuited to Europe”, it is argued.

“Such large pick-ups are more difficult to manoeuvre and are proven to kill and seriously injure other road users at an alarmingly higher rate than regular cars when involved in crashes.

“With front ends often higher than 10-year-old children, they are dangerous and are also compromised by very poor direct vision,” the letter states.

Campaigners want legislators to amend the so-called “Individual Vehicle Approval” procedure in the vehicle type approval law, which exempts imported off-road vehicles from normal EU climate and safety rules.

“The EU does not provide import loopholes for North American foods that don’t meet EU standards, for example, chlorinated chicken or hormone-laden beef. There can be no justification for allowing vehicles that don’t meet EU safety and environmental standards to be imported for use on EU roads,” the letter reads.

When it comes to safety and green laws for vehicles, the European campaigners are clear – there can be no substitutions.

– Sean Goulding Carroll

E-bikes are not motorbikes, EU Court rules

When is a bicycle not a bicycle? And what makes a vehicle a motorbike? These are the weighty questions the judges of the EU Court of Justice were forced to grapple with in recent months.

The court case stems from a tragic incident in Bruges, when an e-bike rider was struck by a car and seriously injured, later dying from his wounds. In assessing the right to compensation for the victim’s family, a question arose as to the classification of the e-bike.

As the e-bike benefited from electric pedal assistance, was the victim driving a motor vehicle or was he a cyclist, a “vulnerable road user”? – distinct categories with differing compensation rules under Belgian law.

The case was referred to the EU Court of Justice, as the Belgian law had its roots in an EU directive.

In its ruling, the court made the distinction between vehicles solely propelled by mechanical power and those that are not. As e-bikes provide a boost to pedal power, they cannot be classed as a motor vehicle, and are therefore not obliged to take out insurance, it was concluded.

It was also found by the court that e-bikes “do not appear to be capable of causing bodily or material damage to third parties comparable to the damage that may be caused by motorcycles, cars, trucks or other vehicles propelled exclusively by mechanical power, which can reach significantly higher speeds”.

E-bike riders, therefore, are not considered motorists in the way motorcycle riders are. They remain “vulnerable road users” and are subject to the protections and compensation that classification affords.

– Sean Goulding Carroll

After fraught discussions, EU countries reach deal on truck CO2 standards

EU countries reached a common negotiating position on draft rules to reduce the carbon footprint of heavy-duty vehicles on Monday (16 October), following a long evening of contentious discussions.

Car-making regions want slice of EU funds to power transition

As the shift towards electric vehicles majorly changes the employment structure of the automotive industry, car regions should be supported with EU money, the economy minister of Germany’s state of Saxony-Anhalt, Sven Schulze, told Euractiv in an interview.

Conservatives and liberals combine to water down vehicle pollution standards

The European Parliament’s environment committee voted Thursday (12 October) to water down proposed pollution standards for vehicles, as conservative and liberal lawmakers joined forces to block green and socialist ambitions.

Airspace woes saw flight delays jump by over 400% in 2022

European passengers were forced to wait longer to reach their destination in 2022, as a post-COVID rebound in air traffic, restrictions prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and an acute lack of airspace capacity combined to cause delays.

Italy to earmark €12 billion for mega Sicily bridge project

Italy’s government said on Monday (16 October) it would set aside 12 billion euros to build a giant bridge to connect Sicily to the mainland, as it revives a project that appeared to have been killed off ten years ago.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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