The German Environmental Minister stated that the nation would not follow through on mandates to increase ethanol content in gasoline from 5% to 10% by 1009. Sigmar Gabriel said that the initial standard for E10 enactment in Germany was dissolved because there were more than one million legacy vehicles with incompatible fuel systems. Germany’s move away from increased ethanol highlights several debates among the nation’s oil and automobile industries about the future of green transportation.
Multiple German organizations are debating the virtues of ethanol use in the nation in context with similar trends throughout Europe. The auto quality organization VDA says that Gabriel’s figures are incorrect since there are 375,000 incompatible legacy vehicles on the road today. The auto importer’s association VDIK counters the VDA contention by saying that more than a million foreign legacy cars cannot run on ethanol blends. ADAC is a German auto club that places the number of incompatible vehicles at 3 million at the end of 2007.
Representatives of the German oil industry say that withdrawal of the Euro 91 blend of gasoline portends the expense of biofuels in Europe. The wholesale price of Euro 91 is comparable to the lighter Euro 95 blend that creates a disincentive for oil companies to create the former blend. Industry representatives stated that vehicles incompatible with the E10 standard would need to resort to more expensive Euro 98 blends if the nation completed its ethanol conversion.
There are several threads of debate running through the Environmental Ministry’s change in energy policy. Many leaders within the European energy community look at biofuels as an unsavory alternative to fossil fuels. The concerns about subsidizing foreign farms for ethanol and the promotion of non-food cultivation on European farms create heated undertones in energy debates.
A larger thread that emerges in the German ethanol debate is an age-old taboo against changing speed limits on the nation’s roads. The love of automobiles and uninhibited driving on German highways still trumps concerns about fuel prices among industry leaders and advocates. Observers in the United States and Europe will observe biofuel developments in Germany as a case study in surmounting regulatory and public relations obstacles.
