XPost: alt.autos, sac.politics, misc.survivalism
XPost: alt.politics.economics
Diesel and gasoline-powered vehicles officially are an
endangered species in Germany, and possibly all of the EU. This
after Germany’s Bundesrat has passed a resolution to ban the
internal combustion engine starting in 2030, Germany’s Spiegel
Magazin writes. Higher taxes may hasten the ICE’s departure.
An across-the-aisle Bundesrat resolution calls on the EU
Commission in Brussels to pass directives assuring that “latest
in 2030, only zero-emission passenger vehicles will be approved”
for use on EU roads. Germany’s Bundesrat is a legislative body
representing the sixteen states of Germany. On its own, the
resolution has no legislative effect. EU type approval is
regulated on the EU level. However, German regulations
traditionally have shaped EU and UNECE regulations.
EU automakers will be alarmed that the resolution, as quoted by
der Spiegel, calls on the EU Commission to “review the current
practices of taxation and dues with regard to a stimulation of
emission-free mobility.”
“Stimulation of emission-free mobility” can mean incentives to
buy EVs. Lavish subsidies doled out by EU states have barely
moved the needle so far.
A “review the current practices of taxation and dues” is an
unambiguously broad hint to end the tax advantages enjoyed by
diesel in many EU member states. The lower price of diesel fuel,
paired with its higher mileage per liter, are the reason that
half of the cars on Europe’s roads are diesel-driven. Higher
taxes would fuel diesel’s demise.
In the one year after the diesel scandal became public,
customers were mostly unmoved, and the diesel take rate barely
budged, until in August, Germany’s regulator Kraftfahrtbundesamt
registered a sudden, and sharp drop in the registrations of
diesel cars. Last week, the reputable AID Newsletter, read by
auto executives all over the world, reported that “environmental
storms sent Europe’s diesel car demand into a steep downward
spiral.” In Germany, diesel sales dropped 5%, while the fuel
fell more out of favor in neighboring countries. August diesel
sales were down 5.8% in France, 5.5% in Belgium and Luxembourg,
and a whopping 12.9 percent in the Netherlands.
On a EU level, the chart drawn by AID shows only a mild trend
reversal, but it “fails to hide fully the severity of the
underlying diesel car sales crisis in Europe,” AID editor
Matthias Schmidt tells its high-paying customers. Schmidt is not
quite ready to write off diesel completely.
“On all accounts I don’t think you can read too much into August
data as it is so unrepresentative and full of anomalies, in
Europe at least,” Schmidt told me from his office in Berlin.
“Let’s wait for September data to filter through for more
detailed analysis.”
The diesel take rate fluctuates widely across Europe , AID data
show, from 18% in the Netherlands to 70% in Ireland, with
differing taxes usually the reason. In EU volume markets Italy,
France, and Spain, diesel’s adoption rate stands solidly above
50%
With diesel already on its tipping point in Europe, higher taxes
and increased prices at the pump would be the beginning of the
fuel’s end. As evidenced at the Paris auto show, the EU auto
industry seems to be ready to switch to electric power, and
politicians just signaled their willingness to force the switch
to zero-emission, if necessary. Environmentalists undoubtedly
will applaud this move, and the sooner diesel is stopped from
poisoning our lungs with cancer-causing nitrous oxide, the
better.
Cult-like supporters of electric carmaker Tesla will register
the developments with trepidation.
When EU carmakers are forced by law to produce the 13+ million
electric cars the region would need per year, the upstart
carmaker would lose its USP, and end up as roadkill.
Maybe even earlier.
Prompted by a recent accident on a German Autobahn, experts of
Germany’s transport ministry declared Tesla’s autopilot a
“considerable traffic hazard,” Der Spiegel wrote yesterday.
Transport Minister Dobrindt so far stands between removing
Germany’s 3,000 Tesla cars from the road, the magazine writes.
Actually, until the report surfaced, the minister’s plan was to
subsidize Autopilot research in Germany’s inner cities. “Let’s
hope no Tesla accident happens,” the minister’s bureaucrats told
Der Spiegel. It happened, but no-one died.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bertelschmitt/2016/10/08/germanys- bundesrat-resolves-end-of-internal-combustion-
engine/#600d8f1431d9
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)