BMW slams EU over 'bogus solution' for e-fuels

BMW CEO Oliver Zipse has accused the European Commission of not being fully committed to its plan to include new cars running on e-fuels after 2035, calling it a "bogus solution."

BMW is pushing for the sale of new cars powered by combustion engines to be allowed after the cutoff point of 2035, when the European Commission has said all new cars must be zero-emission.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has reportedly said she's seeking a carve out a place in the new rules for e-fuels, which are created synthetically from waste CO2

BMW, however, said any promise to include combustion engine cars running on e-fuels after 2035 must be backed up by investment to help ramp-up e-fuel use, otherwise it remains a combustion engine ban "through the back door," Zipse told analysts on the company's second-quarter earnings call.

"There are currently many indications that the EU Commission is driving for a bogus solution in which the ban on combustion engines is relaxed simply by ostensibly opening up to e-fuels," Zipse said.

Premium and luxury automakers have been vocal in their demands for the 2035 zero-emission legislation to continue to allow models with combustion engines, which remain highly profitable particularly in larger SUVs and sports cars.

Porsche and Ferrari have successfully lobbied their respective home countries to push for an exemption for combustion engine models that use e-fuels.

Porsche has invested in an e-fuel plant in Chile.

Opponents, however, argue that e-fuels are a "distraction" in the battle to make Europe competitive in electromobility.

"Opening the door to e-fuels for cars under the false flag of technology neutrality is a major threat to investment, especially with significant battery investments currently at risk," Julia Poliscanova, senior director for vehicles & e-mobility supply chains at green pressure group Transport & Environment, said in a July 18 blog.

Volkswagen brand CEO Thomas Schaefer last year described the debate over e-fuels as "unnecessary noise."

"Look at the physics of making e-fuels. We don't have enough energy as it is, so why waste it on e-fuels?" he told Automotive News Europe.

Other hurdles to the widespread use of e-fuels include making them cheap enough to replace gasoline and diesel, as well as ensuring that new e-fuel-ready cars sold after 2035 can't run on conventional gasoline.

Porsche has said e-fuels could run on a standard combustion engine car with very little modification.

Zipse argued that e-fuels as well as E25 biofuel/gasoline mix and hydrotreated vegetable oil diesel will all help lower CO2 on existing models.

Said Zipse: "These fuels could immediately improve the carbon footprint of the existing fleet of more than 250 million vehicles in the European Union."