A few weeks ago I had to change my car and chose a full hybrid, that is, a full hybrid. In urban and also extra-urban driving, it covers 8 out of 10 kilometers or 80 out of 100 kilometers with the electric motor. On highways, where the speed limit is between 90 and 110 kilometers per hour, this rate drops to just under 70 percent. The second gasoline engine is mainly used to charge the batteries. Or to move the car on the highway, where, again thanks to the electric support and the light foot, the consumption per liter of gasoline remains below 27-29 kilometers.

Less polluting hybrid car

The car model I have chosen fully complies with the carbon dioxide or CO2 emission limit set by the European Union from 2025: 93.6 grams per kilometre, which in any case means almost one kilo of CO2 for every ten kilometres. tonnes for every 10 thousand. But my new car is already under the next European restrictions: according to the announced laboratory tests on combined urban and extra-urban cycling, it produces between 87 and 92 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre. And 0.007 grams of nitrogen oxides.

I didn’t buy an electric car because I can’t afford it; the ones on the road in Europe so far are too expensive. And most importantly, like most drivers, I believe that at this moment in technological development, the battery charging times are not compatible with my travel needs. Even for work. And I didn’t buy an SUV, not only because of the unjustified cost, but also because I think it’s crazy to add weight and size when you have the right technology and the mission to consume less and pollute less. It’s like setting your heating to 23 degrees in the winter to stay short-sleeved. Maybe leave the windows open because then it’s too hot.

Two and a half ton SUV

But let’s get back to the cars. Mine is top of the crash safety rankings, but it weighs 1,165 kilos. It can reach speeds of 175 kilometers per hour, a thrill I haven’t experienced in two months, considering the maximum limit on the highway is 130. It’s 3.9 meters long and 1.7 meters wide. According to homologation tests, it consumes an average of 3.8 to 4.1 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers. The brand is Japanese. But it’s made in the European Union.

Now let’s try to compare this data with one of the new European hybrid SUVs that are being advertised these days. Weight: 2500 kilos, or a ton and a half more than my car. Dimensions: 4.7 meters long and 1.9 meters wide. Maximum speed: 215 kilometers per hour. All this, of course, has consequences for consumption and pollution values. Here they are: 6.9 to 7.6 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers and 156 to 172 grams of CO2 per kilometer. Almost twice as much, well outside the borders of the new Europe. And we’re talking about a hybrid.

So new models emit more CO2

In conventional European SUVs, like most of the latest generation diesel-powered, non-electric SUVs in circulation, the figures are much worse. Weight: 2235 kilos. Dimensions: 4.9 meters x 1.9. Maximum speed: 226 kilometers per hour. Consumption: 8.1-8.8 liters per 100 kilometers. Emissions: from 213 to 230 grams of Co2 per kilometer. We reduce the price and again change the European brand: Diesel engine, maximum speed 207 kilometers per hour, consumption 5.3 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers. The result: Co2 emissions equal to 139 grams per kilometer. But the hybrid version of the same model produces even more carbon dioxide: 141 grams per kilometer.

This automotive giant is not an environmental imperative. In much of Europe, as in Italy, the roads are well paved and we don’t have to go on safari to get from Padua to Florence. The masses of off-roaders disguised as luxury cars in the city and on the highways are unnecessarily cumbersome and polluting. But consumers love them and, thanks to the billions of dollars in profits that have made their manufacturers rich over time, they continue to drive the commercial strategies of Europe’s leading car manufacturers. So much so that today, in many countries, more SUVs are sold than cars: in Italy, in 2021, there were 711,000 “Sports Utility Vehicles” (that’s what it means) compared to 658,000 sedans. An unstoppable rise, supported by advertising: in 2012, SUVs represented only 17 percent of the Italian market. This morning I took a spannometric census in one of the large underground car parks in Milan. Out of 50 double-row cars, 27 were SUVs: 54 percent. And if the only parking space available is between two giants, opening the door and getting out is often even more difficult.

Manufacturers’ wrong bet

In order not to undermine the consolidated positions of European industry, Brussels did not impose new CO2 emission limits on all vehicles produced from 2025 onwards. Instead, it only required that average production emissions be less than 93.6 grams per kilometre. So if I want to continue offering an SUV with 172 grams of CO2 per kilometre, I also need to produce and sell an electric car with zero emissions at the same time: so the average could ideally fall to 86 grams per kilometre.

On paper, this bet has worked well for manufacturers: SUVs are expensive, and electric cars are a double win. But to offset the emissions generated by SUVs, conventional sedans and even hybrids, electric car sales in Europe need to exceed 20 percent of the market share from next year. But we are a long way off: the latest figures for 2023, a record year for sales, stand at 14.2 percent, and according to the manufacturers’ association Acea, EV purchases have fallen to 12.6 percent in 2024. For the vast majority of drivers, current electric models are unsuitable due to charging problems and high purchasing costs. Moreover, many families do not have enough savings to replace the car.

Why do we have to go back to the low-cost car?

The leading European car manufacturers, some of whom focused on diesel engines in 2015, paid tens of billions of dollars in compensation for falsifying pollution data, therefore bet on protecting the market and leaving it as it is. In these years that were beneficial to change, Germany led the way in reforming driving tastes and habits. So from 2025, if they do not comply with the average emissions value of 93.6 grams per kilometer, they will again risk a general fine of around 15 billion euros, according to the estimates of the Acea lobby.

In short, they have focused (almost) everything on SUVs. And they have ignored not only the popular car, but also the “gentle” car that offers luxury to employees or enjoys comfort behind the wheel, but without adding unnecessary weight and therefore causing high pollution rates. This is a false bet that brings the new European Commission and all of us into conflict with the automotive industry, which alone provides 15 million jobs. This is why Acea has demanded that the entry into force of the new borders be postponed until 2027. This is also why Volkswagen and Audi have announced that they will close factories in Germany and Belgium, leaving thousands of workers at home. The most classic of threats is the political favor and gain (in the photo above, former Audi designer Wolfgang Egger, who has moved to China’s Byd).

Stellantis and Carlos Tavares’ solo protest

Mediation is likely to prevail. But not everyone agrees. Stellantis, the French group that acquired Fiat, left the European manufacturers’ association in 2022. A few days ago in Turin, CEO Carlos Tavares made it clear at a forum attended by the specialist press that there was no going back from electric: “Now we have a few months left before the regulations come into force and someone wants to change the rules – observes Tavares – And that’s what we did, my cars are ready, my factories are ready. The competition is about to start. Why change the rules?

Meanwhile, new Chinese brands are watching us from the window. Beijing dominates the world market for rare earths needed to produce electric or hybrid cars, dominates conversion processes and also dominates battery research and production. They have started on the right track from afar. The communist regime supports the national industry with billions of dollars in funds. And so the builders are preparing to invade Europe. Just as European manufacturers did in China twenty years ago with our (old) models.

And Wolfgang Egger starts again from China

We will see what happens in 2025. When the first real low-cost Chinese electric car arrives here. The feared BYD-built Seagull has a range of over 400 kilometers. And if taxes permit, it could cost around 12,000 euros. Twenty thousand less than European models. Designed by Wolfgang Egger, a designer who studied in Milan, grew up at Alfa Romeo, and became famous at Audi and Lamborghini. It is certainly not his fault that China has found the best conditions for research, technology, and imagination, which were once the pride of Europe.

Personally, I do not think that we can achieve the unrealistic goal of the European Green Deal: zero-emission roads from 2035 according to the package of strategic rules against petroleum derivatives, but the high CO2 emissions caused by these are not taken into account. With the production of batteries. The first person who no longer believes in this after raising a flag to the detriment of industries, national governments and citizens seems to be the president Ursula von der Leyen, who has been re-approved at the top of the European Commission ( Photo above). In my opinion, this is a new, incredible blunder from Brussels. Because when we look at the emissions limits that will apply from next year, the technology that will make the air a little cleaner already exists. And it is already useful: it is called a full hybrid engine. As long as it is not installed in SUVs that are no longer useful.

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