One of the more controversial parts of the EU’s Green Deal includes rules that will slash greenhouse gas emissions produced by road transport and clean up all the other pollutants that driving creates.
This means that by 2035, sales of new cars and vans will have to be zero-emission. This ostensibly opens the door for full-blown adoption of battery-electric mobility in order to stick to the new rules.
In addition to that, the European Commission laid out its plans earlier this month for a new engine standards regime, which would also govern pollutants created by braking and tyre wear.
But there are, of course, loopholes, some of which still need to be written. The Commission has to publish new methodology on how to measure the life-cycle emissions of vehicles by 2025, for example.
More importantly, there will be a review period in the middle of the decade which will essentially give the less-cooperative members of the auto industry a second chance to...