Leaked Car Industry Paper: Carmakers’ EU Demands Would Cut EV Sales In Half - CleanTechnica

A leaked position paper from the European car industry lobby ACEA reveals that carmakers are pushing for numerous loopholes in the EU’s car CO2 regulations, which aim to mandate only zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) sales by 2035. According to analysis by Transport & Environment (T&E), these demands would significantly weaken the EU’s climate ambitions, potentially halving the share of electric vehicle (EV) sales. Key loopholes include counting cars running on so-called carbon-neutral fuels (such as biofuels or e-fuels) as zero-emission, which alone could reduce EV sales by 25%. Additional demands include scrapping the 2027 utility factor adjustment for plug-in hybrids, granting CO2 credits for scrapping old cars, and credits for CO2 reductions in car production, cumulatively lowering the EV market share target to just 52% by 2035. T&E’s Lucien Mathieu criticized the ACEA’s position as undermining investment certainty and Europe’s competitiveness