Germany Calls For a Ban On Combustion Engine Cars By 2030 (engadget.com)

Germany gave the world the internal combustion engine, and now it is prepping to ban the amazing invention in the country. The country's federal council has passed a resolution to ban the ICE starting in 2030. From an Engadget report:The country's Bundesrat (federal council) has passed a resolution calling for a ban on new internal combustion engine cars by 2030. From then on, you'd have to buy a zero-emissions vehicle, whether it's electric or running on a hydrogen fuel cell. This isn't legally binding, but the Bundesrat is asking the European Commission to implement the ban across the European Union... and when German regulations tend to shape EU policy, there's a chance that might happen. The council also wants the European Commission to review its taxation policies and their effect on the "stimulation of emission-free mobility." Just what that means isn't clear. It could involve stronger tax incentives for buying zero-emissions cars, but it could also involve eliminating tax breaks for diesel cars in EU states. Automakers are already worried that tougher emission standards could kill diesels -- remove the low cost of ownership and it'd only hasten their demise.

Comments

Re:So the bureaucrats have solved all the problems

[beelsebob]

Have they thought of the implications this has on the trucking industry?

Last I checked, the trucking industry don't use cars, but if you ask Tesla, trucks are ripe for being fully electric and more more cost effective already.

Have they thought what this might do to low-income or fixed-income individuals who can't afford a car and suddenly left without transportation?

Yes - Europe already solved that problem decades ago - it's called public transport.

Where is the electricity or energy to create hydrogen fuel going to come from now that they've banned nuclear and don't want fossil fuels?

It doesn't really matter - even if you assume the worst case scenario (basically, just burn coal out your ears), it's still a way way more efficient scenario than every individual car having a shitty efficiency ICE in it.

John Stevens sounds American to me, not German.

[Anonymous Coward]

"In 1798, John Stevens built the first internal combustion engine."

Re:There is no such thing as a zero emissions vehi

[Trogre]

After reading your first two sentences I was wondering if perhaps you had never heard of batteries. Now I suspect you're just over-stating the losses in charging Lithium-Ion batteries.

As for discharging, the energy efficiency of an electric "engine", including the battery and motors is about 95% when thermal and inductive losses are taken into account.

Compare this to a theoretical maximum of 46% of a gasoline engine, dictated by thermodynamics. Of course, this very generous scenario assumes instantaneous burn time (0 seconds), no heat loss through coolant and impossibly perfect exhaust valve timing. In the real world efficiencies of 25% to 30% are typical.

If you're willing to swap out your petrol ICE for a Wartsila 31 diesel engine you could stand a chance of approaching the world record of just over 50%. However you may need to weld some additional support struts to your car, as that engine is typically used in container ships.