Within industry: EU could force companies to further reduce their CO2 emissions Car News

Registrations of plug-in cars are soaring. Great news for an industry that needs to move quickly to new technologies, isn’t it? Perhaps. Maybe not.

Analyst and journalist Matthias Schmidt is the go-to source for following developments in the electric car market and he recently published his observations on Western Europe for the first half of 2021.

It should be noted that registrations of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) surpassed those of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) in June, the first time this has happened this year. In the same month, all plug-in registrations exceeded 20% of the total for just the second time. Germany recorded most BEVs and the UK was second (148,700 vs. 73,900). The Volkswagen group dominated BEV registrations, with a market share of 25.4%.

So far, so good. But success – and growing fears around the climate crisis – has led lawmakers to rush. The European Commission is now pushing for the average CO2 emissions targets for the passenger car fleet in 2030 to be 55% below the 2020/21 average, rather than the currently regulated drop of 37.5%.

Why is it such a problem when customer demand is so high and growing? Because if making cars is not a problem, someone has to pay the cost of developing them. With BEV margins so low and so heavily dependent on government subsidies at current levels, automakers are relying on the sale of gasoline and diesel (ICE) cars to generate profits and finance the transition. And the less time they have to do it, the faster they have to sell.

Highlighting the issue last week, Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess said: “Maintaining high cash flow from our ICE business will be critical to fund the transition. This is a courageous admission, given that many will see it as a barrier to environmental benefits (VW estimates that it accounts for around 2% of global CO2 production), but it should be emphasized that this is the pace of progress. that is disputed, not whether a change is necessary.

The contradiction is clear, but the computation required to provide a clearer picture of the right path to take is more difficult. Could it be that giving established automakers more time to transition would also be better for the planet? Maybe, but who would dare to plead the case?

Entry time: A few weeks ago, I said that the average owner of a classic car emits as much CO2 in a year as they do by charging a cell phone for six months. The extent of my calculations depends on who I’m talking to – but after much discussion, a fairer claim would be that this equates to making and charging 40 smartphones for 12 months.

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