Cars 2035, between stopping 100% electric and opening up to plug-ins. What will change

The official news is coming: thermal cars will not be banned in Europe from 2035. Official confirmation is lacking, but the news came from Manfred Weber, leader of the European People's Party, who revealed the result of his meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Bild.

Why will internal combustion cars continue to be sold after 2035? Because the European Union realised it was an unachievable transition by observing the market reaction. As Pier Luigi del Viscovo points out, 'There is only one cause: consumers. They have not accepted the transition from a near-perfect car to one that has to stop for hours to recharge. It's all there. It has always been there. Under everyone's eyes and in fact everyone could see it. Only, they pretended that they 'didn't' see. They pretended because they didn't have the courage to admit that the ecological solution of eliminating absolute evil didn't stand up, that people might want a car-free life, but then they would never practice it. No one wanted to be the one who disavowed the credo of ecology at any cost. Consequently, everyone suffered in silence, continuing to pledge allegiance to decarbonisation knowing that they were committing suicide. But courage, Manzoni made Don Abbondio say, if one does not have it, one cannot give it to oneself'.

From the first rumours, it seems that the opening is only for plug-in hybrid cars. But after this initial opening everything could change. What happens now? 'Little or nothing at the industry and market level. Again, everyone knows that the industry is making its production and sales policies based on this year's fines and not for the 2035 ban, also because none of the managers will be in place in ten years. If they don't remove the fines, and it doesn't seem to be in sight, the factories will continue to churn out few electric cars, since they don't sell, and not enough thermal cars to keep the workers employed. With the factories closed, the ball is in the court of politics, which must choose between restarting industry and continuing to call for saving the planet through policies that are as self-defeating as they are climate-influential,' del Viscovo recalls.

All this against the backdrop of billion-dollar investments for all major European brands, which were not matched by sales of electric cars, while perhaps the manufacturers hoped that the obligation to switch would stimulate demand.