How long will diesel last?

For several months now, the debate has been raging about a particularly hot topic: how long will diesel last? This has to do with EU regulations that will ban the sale of diesel passenger cars after a certain date. These changes are crucial for car owners, car manufacturers, oil companies and charging infrastructure manufacturers.

So what do we need to prepare for? What exactly does the current legislation say? Pursuant to the amendment of Regulation 2019/631,  from 2035 onwards, new passenger cars and new light commercial vehicles can only be registered in European Union countries with electric or hydrogen propulsion. This is implicit in a ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars. The target is key to making Europe climate neutral by 2050.

From 2035, all new passenger cars sold in Europe will have to emit zero CO2. What about trucks and buses? Different rules apply to heavy-duty vehicles. The main benchmark is the Clean Vehicles Directive. EU Directive 2019/1161 sets minimum targets for the share of the procurement of clean heavy-duty vehicles in two periods: 2025 and 2030. The levels to be achieved by these two dates vary between Member States. For example, Luxembourg, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Spain have a target of 45% clean buses in 2025 and 65% in 2030. The Czech Republic (41% and 60%), Slovakia (34% and 48%), and Poland (32% and 46%) have slightly lower targets.

Of course, the introduction of new emission standards will not mean that all combustion vehicles will suddenly disappear from the roads in 2035. Many people will continue to use their old cars for a long time. But the planned changes will further accelerate the development of electric mobility, and the vision of clean, green cities without exhaust fumes and noise is becoming more and more realistic.