BMW CEO Calls on EU to Cancel Combustion Engine Ban
BMW’s EVs may be selling better than ever, but the automaker would still like the EU to reconsider its combustion engine ban.
The German marque’s CEO, Oliver Zipse, has called on the trade bloc to rethink a plan that would make it all but impossible to sell cars with ICE powertrains, according to Bloomberg. He says the legislation, which is set to go into effect in 2025, is “no longer realistic.”
In the spring of last year, the E.U. member countries voted to approve a landmark law that would require all new cars to have zero CO2 emissions starting in 2035. The legislation also requires that emissions be 55 percent lower than 2021 levels by the start of the next decade.
During this week’s Paris Automotive Summit, Zipse said the ban could lead to a “massive shrinking” of the European automotive industry, which has long been a cornerstone of the continent’s economy. This, he argued, would not only impact manufacturers, like BMW and its main peers, Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Volkswagen AG, but also smaller businesses that produce technologies and components vital to production.
He also said that the government subsidies that have helped boost drive the increase in EV sales this decade are “unsustainable.” Expiring subsidies are already wreaking havoc on sales. numbers. In August of this year, EV sales plunged nearly 44 percent to a three-year low. Zipse also warned that the shift to EVs could force automakers to rely on China for batteries. Last year, The New York Times reported that three-fourths of the world’s EV batteries come from the country.
In the same presentation, Zipse said that a “strictly technology-agnostic path” is necessary moving forward, according to Reuters. The executive’s company has already begun to dedicate resources towards exploring the viability of EV alternatives, like e-fuels and hydrogen powertrains. The company announced plans this summer to begin selling its first hydrogen vehicle in 2028.
The date that Zipse and the rest of his peers are most worried about is 2035, but emissions will begin to get stricter well before that. New fleet-emission targets are set to go into effect next year, according to Bloomberg. BMW and Mercedes claim they are prepared for the new regulations, but it is still unclear if Volkswagen, Stellantis, and Renault will be.
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