Europeans Will Soon Only Be Able To Drive Electric Cars

In the past, we've brought you quite a few stories on cars or tech that Europeans get access to that we do not. We've seen it with Tesla, the Audi e-tron's range, and Mercedes-AMG's amazing A45 S. Still, every once in a while, we get a story that shows that here in America, some things are just better. And thanks to a new bill that the European Union proposes, we may soon have more reasons to look down on Europe. The EU is serious about drastically reducing its carbon emissions as soon as possible. But while the EU aims to become totally carbon neutral by 2050, a new "Fit for 55" climate package that is to be released next month could kill internal combustion engines in the region altogether, and well before 2050.

The details of this proposed package are yet to be finalized, but one of the proposals therein wants emissions to be cut by 60 percent before 2030 rolls around, despite the EU's original goal 40 percent already being increased to 55 percent earlier this year. That's quite a jump, but it's not the worst part of the proposal. Just five years later, in 2035, this proposal wants the EU's emissions to be slashed 100 percent, making it impossible for internal combustion engines to be sold there. If this proposal is adopted, carmakers will have to accelerate their already rapid transition to electric power, but the knock-on effects of this bill could be worse in other ways.

What we're talking about here is totally transforming the EU into an EV-only continent in the space of 14 years. Sure, that sounds like a lot of time, but keep in mind that research, design, development, testing - everything that goes into every new car, would have to be out of the way long before 2035 for every manufacturer's lineup to be completely compliant. What's more worrying is that those in the industry, particularly those that supply these automakers, make their bread and butter off of sometimes just a single component. Let's say Borg Warner only makes turbochargers - what happens to all of its employees by the time 2035 rolls around? Industry associations have criticized the proposals for just this reason. Let's hope that a more suitable decision can be made, or you may be forced into a Volkswagen ID.4 sooner than you'd like.