Little support for ban on combustion engines

Yet another study has come to the conclusion that, contrary to all expectations, people in Germany are not all in favor of a ban on combustion engines. Less than half (40 percent) of respondents to the representative survey conducted by renowned business consultants Deloitte support the EU's ban on only allowing vehicles that produce no emissions locally from 2035. 36 percent of those surveyed rate the target from Brussels as bad or very bad.

Deloitte found that younger people are much more open to the regulation of the European Union than older people. More than half of those surveyed (57%) between the ages of 18 and 34 are in favor, while only around a fifth are against. The older people get, the more negative their attitude becomes, and this is most pronounced among 55 to 64-year-olds: Here, 56% of respondents rate the EU decision as bad or very bad.

Those who oppose a ban often do so without any ifs or buts. The majority - 71 percent - do not want to ban the sale of CO2-emitting vehicles in the EU at all. That is the equivalent of 25 percent of all respondents. Just under a fifth (18%) of those who reject the planned ban would merely postpone it. A further seven percent could imagine a partial implementation, for example in certain regions or depending on the number of units.

The goal of putting 15 million e-cars on the road by 2030 is therefore a long way off. "According to our calculations, there will be just 11.2 million electric vehicles on the roads in Germany in five years' time," says Dr. Harald Proff, Partner and Head of the Automotive Sector at Deloitte. But even the 11.2 million figure still seems extremely optimistic. There are currently 1.6 million electric cars on the road, with new car registrations in Germany at around three million units. In Germany, the e-ratio for new registrations would have to skyrocket from negative territory to 100 percent.

When asked about other politically supported climate protection measures, most respondents (46%) mentioned greater support for local transportation. Around a third (36%) are in favor of synthetic fuels and alternative drive systems, followed by 29% who are in favor of greater support for electric cars. Only eleven percent of respondents would like to see an earlier ban on combustion engines; nine percent stated that they did not want any climate protection measures.

The consumer preferences stated here were determined as part of a short survey. This was conducted at the end of October among 1000 consumers over the age of 18 in Germany. (aum)