From: Eric | 3/23/2023 5:27:58 PM | | | |  Image by Andreas Lischka from Pixabay Cars
Over €200 To Fill Up — The Cost Of Germany’s Bid To Keep Combustion Engines
New analysis exposes how costly e-fuels are threatening the EU’s climate targets.
By
Transport & Environment (T&E)
Published 5 seconds ago
1 Comment Chancellor Scholz’s support for e-fuel will hit motorists in the pocket while driving up carbon emissions, oil consumption and air pollution.
Olaf Scholz’s support for e-fuels in new cars could leave the average German driver paying €210 to fill up their tank, new analysis shows. The German Chancellor is in a stand-off with the EU over his insistence that cars powered by e-fuel are allowed to be sold after a 2035 phase-out date for combustion engines. The exorbitant cost would mean only wealthy drivers could afford synthetic fuel — while pushing some drivers who purchase combustion engines certified as running on e-fuels to circumvent the rules and buy fossil petrol instead.

E-petrol could cost more than €2.80 per liter at the pump in Germany in 2030 — 50% more expensive than regular petrol today due to the complex and energy intensive production process.[1] This would cost the average driver at least €2,300 a year to fill up their car on synthetic petrol, the analysis by Transport & Environment (T&E) finds.
Alex Keynes, clean vehicles manager at T&E, said: “Chancellor Scholz is threatening to pull the rug from under the European Green Deal for the sake of saving polluting combustion engines. The higher cost of e-fuels will mean that only the wealthy could afford them while everyone else could be pushed into getting around the rules and using fossil petrol instead. Motorists and the climate will be the losers.”
Germany’s push to power new cars with scarce e-fuels would also increase CO2 emissions and oil consumption from the existing car fleet. Allowing combustion engines to be sold after 2035 would displace sales of up to 46 million zero-emission electric cars by 2050 while also depriving existing cars of the synthetic fuel they need to decarbonize. If e-petrol is used in new cars, vehicles already on the road would burn an additional 135 billion liters of fossil petrol and emit an extra 320 MtCO2e by 2050 than if e-petrol was available for the existing fleet.
Creating a loophole for e-fuels would also condemn Europeans to breathe toxic air for decades to come. While synthetic fuels can be carbon neutral, they still emit air pollutants, notably toxic NO2 and carcinogenic particles, when burned in combustion engines. Cars running on e-fuels could emit up to 160,000 tonnes of additional NOx pollution in the EU by 2050 — more toxic emissions than from Italy’s car fleet in an entire year, the analysis shows.
Alex Keynes said: “Ultimately e-fuels will be no more than a niche solution for Porsche drivers. But by undermining the clarity of the engine phase-out for the sake of an expensive and polluting fuel, Scholz is risking Europe’s green transition and the future of its car industry.”
The EU Commission is currently in negotiations with Germany over a loophole for e-fuels in the 2035 phase-out of combustion engines. T&E said that Scholz’s drive for synthetic fuels undermines investment certainty in the electrification of European carmakers and is putting at risk up to €30 billion of battery plant investments in Germany alone.
[1] Based on the ICCT’s estimate of the retail e-diesel price in Germany in 2030, assuming the tax rate for e-fuels is 0.15 euros per GJ as in the proposed revision to the EU Energy Taxation Directive (ETD). T&E conservatively assumed that e-petrol prices would be similar to e-diesel prices. In reality more processing is required to produce e-petrol, leading to higher prices.
The ICCT. (2022). Current and future cost of e-kerosene in the United States and Europe
Originally published on Transport & Environment.
cleantechnica.com |
| The Electric Car, or MPG "what me worry?" | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last ReadRead Replies (2) |
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To: Eric who wrote (12691) | 3/23/2023 7:17:23 PM | From: gg cox | | | << Would I pipe H thousands of miles?
No way. Same goes for all fossil fuels.>>
Except ,,fossil fuels have been pipelined, trucked ,ocean transported successfully and relatively successfully
and relatively EFFICIENTLY for many years.
<<< Just electricity.
Photons to electrons rule.
(Well... maybe some windpower too!)>>>
Absolutely.
Think Bezos and his folly of hydrogen forklifts in his warehouses when electrons all throughout his buildings.
Battery fork lifts have been around for 100 years and have only improved with lithium ion.
Elon is also schooling him in rocketry with every Falcon 9 launch. |
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To: kidl who wrote (12693) | 3/24/2023 8:24:13 AM | From: Eric | | | Transitions cost money.
In this case it's to the advantage of Europeans to get off foreign oil. It's more expensive than electrons.
Norway is the exception but depletion is inevitable. But they have been putting money in the bank anticipating the end.
Get serious with renewables or "pay da man", or dictators you cannot trust.
Then there are the pollution aspects.
The logical choice is pretty darn obvious. |
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To: Eric who wrote (12697) | 3/24/2023 9:18:43 AM | From: kidl | | | What you are advocating will in all likelihood happen; just not within overly ambitious essentially unrealistic timelines. Many EU countries are realizing that they can’t make this “2035” arbitrary target without severely damaging their economies. To put it in very simplistic terms: What good is a totally “green” society if we bankrupt the society in the process? Europe needs to ensure that its car and car related industry can survive. Who else is going to foot the Putin induced expenses? BTW, much the same applies to the country you call home. |
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To: Eric who wrote (12698) | 3/24/2023 10:23:55 AM | From: gg cox | | | Eric,, what a silly article and misleading headline.
Our Leaf has been charging at night when rates are lowest for 8 years now,, controlled by timer setting in the
car. The wall unit ,,with the connecting plug to the car,, is just the connection to the grid or solar system
and is not the charger ,, which is in the car as most here know ,and trouble free and works great. :+)
Of course I’m talking about level 2 charging. |
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To: kidl who wrote (12699) | 3/24/2023 11:21:27 AM | From: Eric | | | Being dependent on Putin (Russia) finally backfired for Europe. A lot of folks knew this day was coming. Just as being dependent on SA was stupid.
There are many options and all the technology is available today, some of it for decades to get off of fossil fuels.
Oh we have "doubters" here, especially some politicians still living in the past with their heads stuck in the sand.
These actors are doing a disservice to Nature, the planet, sustainability and ultimately jobs.
We all want European vehicle manufactures to succeed.
Unfortunately some of them don't want to take the necessary steps. |
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