Electric cars are greener than combustion engines. But that's no reason to cut off the invisible hand

From 2035, the EU will ban the sale of vehicles with combustion engines that run on fossil fuels, mainly gasoline and diesel. There is even speculation in Brussels that this ban will apply to car sales to companies as early as 2030. However, more and more car manufacturers and member states are protesting against the Commission's green extremism in this key European industry.

Brussels is interfering heavily in the basic functioning of the market and disrupting whatever it can. It is pushing manufacturers on the continent towards electromobility, in which they lag behind their Chinese competitors in terms of technology and price. In doing so, it is destroying competition and the smooth transition to better technologies. It is dictating that electric cars will be the solution, instead of giving free rein to competition and letting it work towards the most effective solution chosen by customers themselves.

Meanwhile, customers are not at all convinced about electromobility. After states canceled or cut subsidies for electric cars in 2024 due to tight budgets, demand for this type of vehicle declined. And although there is a recovery in 2025, the transition to electric mobility is not happening as quickly as predicted two or three years ago.

European consumers simply do not want to buy electric cars in the foreseeable future. This is mainly due to excessive prices, range, battery life and replacement costs, insufficient infrastructure, and concerns about electricity price volatility.

Resistance is growing in Europe

Most recently, the relatively new Czech party Motoristi capitalized on this resistance to stricter standards for passenger cars, winning 6.77 percent in the recent elections to the Chamber of Deputies and is likely to become part of Andrej Babiš's (ANO) governing coalition.

But it is not only in the Czech Republic that political representation on the issue of opposition to the spread of green dogmatism has strengthened. In Slovakia, the Republika movement includes the MotoRepublika platform, whose representatives use the same rhetoric and arguments as the movement led by election leader Filip Turek. The nationalist movement has also recorded double-digit support in recent polls this year.

Poland and Italy are also strongly opposed to the automotive chapter of the Green Deal. During its rotating presidency of the EU Council, Warsaw undertook to reassess the enforceability of the ban on combustion engines, while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (who supported the Polish government) has in the past described the Green Deal as a whole as "ideological madness."

There are also increasingly vocal voices in Germany against the ban on cars with combustion engines. In addition to representatives of companies such as Mercedes-Benz and trade unions such as IG Metall, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder has also spoken out in favor of this. He is the leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), which has a long-standing alliance with the all-German Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Its election leader and current Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz supported the statements by IG Metall and the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association at the beginning of September. Its chairman and current Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius did not call for the complete abolition of climate commitments, but for inspiration from the Chinese model, which promises greater openness to technological solutions, especially in the area of hybrids.

BMW boss Oliver Zipse warned against the slow onset of Chinese dominance in Europe. Mandatory electrification will increase demand for batteries, the largest manufacturers of which are companies under the patronage of Beijing.

Electric cars are more environmentally friendly

In general, the goal of electric cars is to reduce emissions of carbon and its compounds. Despite several filters in the engine and exhaust, the combustion engine still works on the basis of a controlled explosion of fossil fuel, which understandably leaves behind exhaust fumes.

If perfect combustion occurred – i.e., only low-reactivity compounds (water vapor, carbon dioxide) remained after burning gasoline or diesel – most of the problems with exhaust filtration would be eliminated. For every kilogram of gasoline, 14.7 kilograms of air are needed for perfect combustion. However, different carburetors ultimately atomize the fuel (aerosol) in slightly different proportions, resulting in imperfect combustion.

Environmental protection is thus one of the most common arguments of electric car advocates. Opponents, however, point to the fact that the electricity used to charge the car often comes from fossil fuels, which raises questions about the purchase.

It is also paradoxical that although carbon emissions are the most widely known "enemy of the climate" in the media, more dangerous components such as microplastics and heavy metals also belong to the category of significant pollutants. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Climate Portal states in this regard that the extraction and processing of lithium and nickel for batteries, as well as the production of electricity (in the US and Germany, mainly from coal and gas), must necessarily be included in the carbon "footprint."

However, most studies calculate that, despite this, the environmental impact of electric cars is lower than that of cars with combustion engines after just a few years of use. With an average electricity mix, it is usually said to be one to two years. In regions where electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels, this may take longer.

Open-air museum à la Cuba

The fundamental problem remains the shortcomings of electric cars as perceived by consumers. From January to August this year, electric cars accounted for nearly 16 percent of car sales in the European Union, or roughly 1.3 million units. However, this is still a long way from a complete transition to electromobility.

Last year's McKinsey survey revealed that almost two-thirds of European consumers do not plan to buy an electric car or even a hybrid as their next car, but rather a vehicle with a combustion engine. Twenty-two percent of people do not want to switch to an electric car at all.

After the ban, Europe is in danger of looking like Cuba used to in some places. After the rise of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro in 1959, trade relations with the United States, which had supported his predecessor, dictator Fulgencio Batista, ceased. The result of the embargo on imports from "imperialist" countries was that Cubans drove old American cars for decades, often rusty or with self-repaired body parts.

Brussels should be careful that some of the more remote European regions, where infrastructure is poor and people need to travel long distances to work, and where electric cars are not a practical or affordable solution, do not become something of an open-air museum.

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