By Gunnar Schupelius
In Brussels and Berlin, a new emission standard is in the works that will make motorized traffic significantly more expensive and will even apply to electric cars. That can’t be in the interest of the population, the government is once again working past the people, says Gunnar Schupelius.
It wasn’t until March that we rubbed our eyes in amazement: Cars with petrol or diesel engines are to be banned, and from 2035 they will no longer be permitted! The governments of the EU countries decided this together.
They decided on the ban, although the switch to electric vehicles has not been clarified: will there be enough charging stations? Will the production be sufficient for batteries? Will enough electrical energy be available? How should that be possible, since all coal-fired power plants in Germany, which account for almost 50 percent of electricity production, will be shut down by 2038?
The Federal Government does not answer these questions. Nobody knows how the conversion of more than 40 million vehicles in Germany to electric drives will succeed.
While these problems remain unresolved, new bans are already brewing in the EU sky: The “Euro 7 emissions standard” was launched in Brussels.
It includes a strict restriction on nitrogen oxides and particulate matter in the exhaust gases from diesel engines. Each newly registered car should also be equipped with its own control system that monitors emissions (onboard monitoring system).
So this time it’s not about CO2 and climate change, but about pollutants in the air. The “Euro 7 emissions standard” is scheduled to come into force as early as 2025. The problem: there are still no diesel engines on the market that meet this standard. Large manufacturers such as Mercedes and VW assume that these engines will not be ready for series production by 2025 either.
If they do eventually exist, they will be very expensive. The Federal Ministry of Transport has calculated that a medium or luxury car will cost up to 400 euros more to buy, a light commercial vehicle up to 900 euros and a heavy one up to 4000 euros.
The ADAC predicts that small cars will become disproportionately expensive and fears that “small and cheap vehicle models can no longer be offered at an affordable price”.
The “Euro 7 emission standard” not only refers to exhaust gases, it also sets limit values for the abrasion of brake pads and car tires. It will therefore also apply to electric cars.
Conclusion: once again, big goals are headed for completely blindly, without knowing whether they can be achieved, again laws are being formulated that take no account of reality.
There is no sense of proportion. The air in German cities is cleaner than ever. Should there be a stricter emissions standard that would make cars more expensive again, especially to the detriment of low-income earners?
The government is there for the people and not the other way around. It is the service provider for the tax-paying population. They have long since forgotten that in the ministries in Brussels and Berlin.
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