German Chancellor Friederich Merz has said he will use this Wednesday’s summit of EU leaders to campaign against the bloc’s 2035 phase-out of combustion engine car sales. But the ‘extended range’ electric vehicles (EREVs) that Chancellor Merz wants to be sold after 2035 can emit as much carbon dioxide as petrol SUVs when not charged, according to analysis by green group T&E.
EREVs vs petrol
Unlike plug-in hybrid vehicles, which switch between a battery and an engine to power the wheels, EREVs only use a battery to power the wheels while an engine or a plug charges the battery. When the battery is depleted, an EREV consumes 6.7 litres of petrol per 100km, on average, in engine mode, according to the latest data from China which leads on the technology. That is similar to a plug-in hybrid (7 litres/100km in engine mode) and worse than some petrol SUVs such as the popular Volkswagen Tiguan (6 litres/100km).
Extended range vehicles have an average electric range of 184km, after which they run on the engine. As they typically have large fuel tanks which allow for 900km of travel in engine mode, drivers are not incentivised to plug in frequently and drive on the battery. The data is taken from China’s official fuel consumption values for 23 EREV models – their real-world consumption is likely to be higher.
China dominates
Extended range EVs have been on sale in China for several years, but only two models – the Mazda MX-30 and Leapmotor’s C10 REEV – are for sale in Europe. While BMW is considering offering an EREV version of its iX5 SUV, the technology is dominated by Chinese producers.
Lucien Mathieu, cars director at T&E, said: “Merz is pushing a technology that European carmakers have little expertise in and that China would immediately dominate. When the battery is depleted, extended range EVs pollute as much as petrol SUVs. Their large fuel tanks provide little incentive for drivers to charge. Technology neutrality must not be used as a trojan horse for continuing to sell polluting powertrains.”
While cars are not officially on the agenda for the informal summit in Copenhagen, Chancellor Merz will also ask leaders to allow the sale of plug-in hybrids after 2035. That is despite CO2 emissions from PHEV cars being almost five times, on average, what official tests suggest. With Chinese manufacturers already capturing a record share of the European hybrid market, T&E argues that PHEVs are a dead-end technology for Europe’s automakers
Europe aims to stop selling new combustion engine cars by 2035 so that the last polluting vehicles are off the road by 2050.
