Germany to urge EU to soften 2035 ban on sale of new petrol and diesel cars
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is to urge the EU to soften the 2035 cutoff date for the sale of combustion-engine cars,Merz said he would send a letter to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Friday urging Brussels to keep technological options open for carmakers,The sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the EU is scheduled to be banned in a decade’s time,Merz’s letter hardens the battle lines emerging between Germany’s powerhouse car industry and those pleading with Brussels to stick to its flagship green policy, which is designed to help the EU meet its 2050 carbon-neutral target,“We’re sending the right signal to the commission with this letter,” Merz said, adding that the German government wanted to protect the climate in “a technology-neutral way”.
Merz has previously said he would do all he could to ensure the 2035 deadline was softened.He has now argued it is vital that hybrid cars are allowed to still be made after 2035.Merz said he would ask for a series of exemptions in his letter, including the right to continue to produce plug-in hybrids, battery hybrids – in which driving charges the battery – and range-extended electric vehicles with “highly efficient” combustion engines as backup to cope with long journeys.“I will ask the commission, even after 2035, to continue to allow battery-electric vehicles that also have a combustion engine,” he said.“It is much more opportune and pragmatic to invest more effort and money in the development of efficient, hybrid systems that will combine the best of the world of internal combustion engines on the one hand and electric mobility on the other.
”The EU’s planned ban has faced complaints from some automakers that it was unworkable given European drivers’ tepid take-up of electric vehicles.The EU in September said it would fast track a review of its plans to give carmakers more certainty.Merz has repeatedly spoken out against the ban, but he needed to discuss the matter with his centre-left Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners before communicating a joint position to the EU.Speaking alongside Merz, the SPD vice-chancellor and finance minister, Lars Klingbeil, said his party agreed with Merz’s centre-right CDU that there had to be changes to the ban.“The future viability of the German automotive industry, securing jobs, that is the key argument for us,” he said.
“We agree that the future of the industry is electric … but we need to be open to more technologies, we need flexibility.”The German car sector is in crisis, faced with the costs of increasing investment in EVs and fierce Chinese competition that is biting into sales.Speaking alongside Merz and Klingbeil, the head of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, Markus Söder, said the government would introduce a subsidy of up to €5,000 (£4,380) for the purchase of electric or hybrid cars with components largely made in Germany, in an effort to boost the car industry.On Wednesday, the European Commission vice-president, Stéphane Séjourné, said that the EU was willing to show “flexibility” in how the combustion engine phase-out was achieved, ahead of a commission announcement expected on 10 December.The EU Commission’s chief spokesperson, Paula Pinho, was asked on Friday if the German position would change its direction on the 2035 deadline.
“We’re talking of a very, very important proposal that has big implications around Europe,” she said, adding that a consultation on the issue had closed on 10 October.“We will carefully study everything that comes our way, including the position of the German government today.”However, the Swedish carmaker Volvo and its spin-off, Polestar, the only all-electric carmaker in Europe, and hundreds of industries that have already poured money into EVs and battery factories, are vehemently opposed to softening the 2035 date.
Why the needless mystery from Australia over Cummins and Khawaja for second Test? | Geoff Lemon
You could speculate about whether Cricket Australia deliberately prefers to be opaque regarding player availability and team plans, or whether it just has a deficiency in communications, but once again the fitness of players and the makeup of the XI is left to be inferred from the selection in the larger squad of 14 players for the second Ashes Test in Brisbane.Normally, a board naming an unchanged squad would not be much news. This time it is, thanks to the possible movement in either direction of Pat Cummins and Usman Khawaja, neither of which has now eventuated.Cummins is the surprise for not being included, with the regular captain and fast-bowling leader deep into his recovery from the early signs of a stress fracture in his back. The only public acknowledgment of the situation was a cursory line with the squad release saying that “Pat Cummins will travel to Brisbane to continue his preparations”
Oscar Piastri boosts F1 title hopes with pole for Qatar Grand Prix sprint race
Oscar Piastri took pole position for the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix. The McLaren driver beat the Mercedes of George Russell into second and, with Lando Norris in third, it was the result the Australian required for his world championship ambitions and allows a chance to narrow the gap to the leader Norris. The other title contender, Max Verstappen, was furious with his Red Bull’s erratic performance and will start in sixth. Drivers' championship standings1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 390pts2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 3663 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 366Despite being level on points, Piastri (7 wins) holds second place due to more GP victories than Verstappen (6 wins) this seasonPoints still availableGP 1st 25pts, 2nd 18, 3rd 15, 4th 12, 5th 10, 6th 8, 7th 6, 8th 4, 9th 2, 10th 1Sprint race 1st 8pt, 2nd 7, 3rd 6, 4th 5, 5th 4, 6th 3, 7th 2, 8th 1Remaining race weekends 29-30 Nov Qatar (sprint race and GP)6-7 Dec Abu Dhabi (GP only)What Norris needs• He needs to emerge from the weekend having scored two points more than Piastri and Verstappen to be sure. • There are a maximum of 58 points left for each driver to win: eight in today’s sprint, 25 in tomorrow’s race and 25 in Abu Dhabi next Sunday
Lando Norris calm in the maelstrom as three-way title race enters final straight
British driver with world championship within his grasp is showing no sign of nerves despite Verstappen mind games and pressure from PiastriStanding outside the McLaren motorhome in the paddock for the Qatar Grand Prix as a warm desert breeze stirs the air, Lando Norris cuts a figure entirely at ease even in the maelstrom of an increasingly tense fight to claim his first Formula One world championship.While dozens of photographers jostle for space, the mic boom of the Netflix Drive to Survive series swaying over them, Norris has an air of assuredness as he speaks to the clacking of shutters that have increasingly become the backing track to the 26-year-old’s march towards the title.He is fiercely self-critical, but the British driver exudes only a steely determination allied to an almost disconcerting quiet confidence, even after the disappointment of being disqualified from second place at the last round in Las Vegas.“People can believe whatever they want but deep down I know I’ve just been doing a very good job,” he said. “I’ve been doing a better job than everyone else
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Derek Evered obituary
My fencing coach Derek Evered, who has died aged 100, began his working life as a lab assistant at 14 and rose to become reader in biochemistry, and deputy to the professor, at Chelsea College of Science and Technology, now part of King’s College London.His career included visiting posts in Zurich and Cambridge, and he authored more than 125 papers, published in journals including the Lancet and the BMJ, as well as founding the master’s course in biochemistry at Chelsea, and supervising more than 500 dissertations. He specialised in amino acids and inborn errors of metabolism, a group of genetic disorders that includes Hartnup syndrome.Derek’s great passion beyond biochemistry was fencing. He competed actively from the late 1950s onwards and in 1976, with his friend Derek Freeborn, founded Egham Fencing Club, in Surrey, not far from his home in Ashford
Will Constitution Hill rediscover electrifying best after startling dip in form?
The venerable Timeform organisation used a well-chosen four-letter word to describe Constitution Hill’s performance in the Boodles Champion Hurdle at Punchestown in early May, when the top-rated hurdler of recent decades started as the odds-on favourite but finished fifth of the six runners. It was, the firm’s post-race analysis said, a “disconcertingly tame display”.Tame. Ouch. It is not a word that could ever have been applied to the first dozen races of Constitution Hill’s career, which ranged from the electrifying, effortless brilliance of his first two seasons to the high drama of falls at Cheltenham and Aintree this year
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