E-fuels: Final decision to be made in Brussels in early March
AND IT'S GOING ON So far, synthetic gasoline may only be blended in Germany, but in the future, e-fuels will also be available for purchase in pure form at gas stations. According to the FDP, this is what the traffic light coalition has agreed on.
The Liberals are talking about a breakthrough, the Greens are not. In Germany, it is to be possible in future to fill up with synthetically produced fuel in its pure form. According to the FDP, the traffic light coalition has agreed to adapt the relevant laws on so-called e-fuels.
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr: "This means that all combustion engines can fill up with these fuels in their pure form. That's a breakthrough for climate protection. After the amendment of the Federal Immission Control Ordinance, e-fuels could then be sold at filling stations and normal combustion engines could thus be operated with climate-neutral fuels. Until now, this was not legally possible. The approval of e-fuels could also secure hundreds of thousands of jobs in the long term."
Production is very energy intensive
E-fuels are produced from water and CO2 using electricity. If green electricity is used and the necessary CO2 is extracted from the atmosphere, e-fuels can theoretically be used in a climate-neutral manner. However, critics argue that their production is very energy-intensive in any case and that e-fuels therefore have a poorer energy balance than conventional electromobility, for example. Greenpeace, for example, described e-fuels as a waste of electricity, because classic e-cars travel five times as far with the same amount of electricity. From 2035, only climate-neutral new cars are to be sold in Europe. For the Greens, this is a sham solution. Unlike the FDP, they did not want to talk about a breakthrough.
Agreement on a technical solution
Green Party leader Katharina Dröge: "The coalition has agreed to definitively rule out the use of palm oil and fossil fuels as paraffinic fuels. The regulation for e-fuels in Germany will be adjusted, she added. Up to now, the use of e-fuels or paraffinic fuels has been possible up to a blending limit of around 26 percent. Now we have agreed on a technical adjustment that will allow pure e-fuels to be marketed. It is important for us that there is accompanying consumer information for vehicle compatibility."
Confusion in Berlin and Brussels
The final approval of the member states is due on March 7. However, German Transport Minister Wissing has now threatened that Germany will only agree to the phasing out of internal combustion engines from 2035 if e-fuels remain permitted so that internal combustion engines can continue to be operated in a climate-neutral manner after 2035. This had caused confusion in Berlin and Brussels.
Jan-Niclas Gesenhues, environmental politician for the Green Party: "E-fuels are inefficient and not sufficiently available. The EU wants to decide on the end of combustion engines. The decision by the traffic light coalition is not to be confused with the plan at EU level to ban internal combustion engines in new cars from 2035. Negotiators from the EU states and the EU Parliament had already agreed on this in October - Germany also gave its approval." One can be curious.
