Frankfurt, October 9, 2018 - Negotiations are currently under way at EU level to reorganise the CO₂ fleet regulation for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. The EU Commission's proposal currently gives manufacturers only two instruments at their disposal to improve their CO₂ balance: further optimization of the internal combustion engine and thus consumption reduction or electric cars.

However, there is a third instrument which is currently not envisaged in the CO₂ fleet regulation but with which manufacturers could improve their CO₂ fleet balance: CO₂-neutral fuels, so-called eFuels. While the focus of the CO₂ fleet regulation is on passenger cars and light commercial vehicles only, these artificial fuels are also the only or at least the best way in many applications to make the combustion of fossil fuels superfluous. This applies to aviation and shipping, where battery electric solutions and fuel cell technology are only likely to be used in niche applications. From VDMA’s point of view, however, this also applies to mobile machines in construction and agriculture, and presumably also to heavy goods vehicles.

“Since the necessity of the transformation process for these sectors is not yet as obvious as, for example, in the transport sector, we see the danger that the introduction of eFuels would be urgently needed at a later point in time, but that no (sufficient) investments have yet been made in P2X facilities or that the legal framework conditions are not such that eFuels are available at all.” says Peter Müller-Baum, Managing Director of VDMA Engines and Systems.

For this reason, VDMA considers the inclusion of the eFuels in the target achievement of the passenger car and light commercial vehicle CO₂ fleet regulation not only a sensible but also an absolutely necessary step on the way to a completely CO₂-neutral industry in Germany, Europe and worldwide. When the European ministries for environment meet in Brussels today to decide about their position, this should be taken into account, VDMA requires.

In order to take account of the possibilities offered by P2X technologies, VDMA has recently set up the "Power-to-X for Applications" association to deal even more intensively with the subject of P2X. “This new platform serves to establish an interdisciplinary network and to promote P2X technologies at national and European level”, says Müller-Baum.

The VDMA represents more than 3200 companies in the medium-sized mechanical and plant engineering sector. With 1.35 million employees in Germany and a turnover of 226 billion euros (2017), the sector is the largest industrial employer and one of Germany's leading industrial sectors overall.