The "neutral cars" will be able to continue circulating after 2035. The only problem is that there are no

Last week the confirmation arrived: the European Commission, Parliament and Council reached an agreement to ban the sale of new cars with combustion engines from 2035. A decision that, however, has some small exceptions. The most striking, the one that refers to “neutral cars”.

2035. “I would like a gasoline car.” “We don’t have. No gasoline, no diesel, no hybrids of any kind.” This is the conversation we should be hearing at any dealership starting January 1, 2035. If, by then, we’re still buying cars from dealerships.

It is the decision that the European Union has taken. After many conversations, the first major agreement has been reached Fit 55the project with which it is hoped to reduce polluting emissions in the Old Continent by 55% by 2030. In the conversions, however, countries such as Germany or Italy have managed to sneak in some exceptions.

1,000 units. It is the maximum limit of units that a brand can sell so that combustion engines continue to come out of its factories. The European Union understands that such a small number of cars does not have a significant impact on the environment and, therefore, that they can continue to be sold despite the initial plans.

Or neutral cars. It is the other exception. In the agreement that has been reached within the European institutions, it is proposed that those cars that run on “CO2 neutral fuels” may continue to be sold. A vague definition but one that still gives us some clues about its use.

When we talk about vehicles that run on neutral fuels, all eyes are on synthetic fuels. These do not depend on fossil remains and take advantage of CO2 from the atmosphere during their production process, so, in addition and subtraction of emissions, they should be completely neutral.

for a few. The problem with synthetic fuels is that, at the moment, they are still not neutral in CO2 emissions. Audi, which had made a great investment the past decade, has decided put them asidelike its combustion engines. porsche, however, insist on the idea. And BMW also relies on its use to further develop six- and eight-cylinder combustion engines.

This gives us an idea of ​​the path that synthetic fuels are taking. If they manage to become “neutral fuels”, everything indicates that they will be destined for a few who can pay those brands that continue to develop very low-selling propellants and, in addition, can maintain the deposit of very low-production fuels. The costs, therefore, are expected to be very high.

complicated challenges. If the difficulty of making a low-production fuel viable with few vehicles in the car park, beyond the competition, were not enough, this is not the only problem with “neutral fuels”. They will also have to improve their high inefficiency against an electric car (upper graph) and face Euro 7.

For synthetic fuels to survive, something as simple as “be neutral in CO2”. With the new Euro 7 regulations, not only harsh limitations are foreseen for these emissions, but also for PMx (suspended particles) and NOx. Two of the most important problems in cities. In fact, it has already been considered to study what emissions the disc brakes of our future cars can expel.

It’s not the solution either.. Just as burning synthetic fuels has been raised and they have in the competition one of its main supporters, hydrogen has also been put to the test as a fuel to run combustion engines. But its results are not being too good.

The truth is that not only Toyota works with this alternative, Porsche has also simulated this possibility, although only digitally. The problem, once again, is the same as before: NOx continues to be expelled during use. Once again, we must wait to find out what rules will define Euro 7, but it does not look good for anything other than an electric car.