“We need gradualness, now we’re changing old vehicles” – Corriere.it

«We need gradualness and technological neutrality». Angelo Sticchi Damiani, president of the Automobile Club of Italy since 2012, has repeated it several times, sharing the reasons that lead the Italian government to ask to review the 2035 deadline set by the EU for the production of diesel and petrol engines.

In these hours it seems to be consolidating the front of the no to the agreement which sets the stop to the registrations of new cars with internal combustion engines at 2035. Does it make sense to oppose electric cars?
«We have reached a very rigid decision, when the picture is not yet clear. In Italy, for example, we don’t have electricity from renewable sources capable of satisfying a new growing demand, we don’t have an infrastructure of adequate charging stations that can ensure long-range travel. The truth is that the electric car at the moment is configured as a new mobility made up of city cars for those who can afford it, given the cost of this type of car».

Can Italy and Germany reorient the path towards electrification, making it more gradual and based on technological neutrality?
«It is difficult to establish the real weights from the point of view of consensus in the representative bodies of Europe. Germany can play a guiding role, but the goal is to arrive at a general conviction and clarify that there are more alternatives. Technology and progress show that ecological fuels and synthetic fuels can guarantee an excellent emission abatement capacity. There are, therefore, more solutions to ensure the famous technological neutrality. We must therefore reserve all possible avenues for a sustainable model capable of reducing C02 emissions».

The Swedish presidency of the EU semester has postponed the debate and the vote on the stop to the sale of internal combustion engines by 2035. Is there still time to correct the shot?
«I hope so, because it is really not very rational to decide today what will happen in 12 years. With the current modalities it would be a ruin for Italy».

Why?
«In Italy we have the oldest circulating car fleet in Europe with 3.5 million Euro 0 cars. It is unimaginable that so many Italians are able to change cars and even buy an electric one without a gradual process, because it is of people who don’t have the resources to buy a new car».

EU Commissioner Thierry Breton predicts the loss of 600,000 jobs with the transition to electric cars. Are you worried?
«We need to make the right choices at the right times, otherwise we risk not doing well what needs to be done. And then repercussions from a social and economic point of view must be avoided, by dismantling factories and abandoning mature and advanced technologies, because it must be said: not all countries can take on such a costly revolution”.

Aci participates in Green NCAP, the European program that evaluates the environmental impact of vehicles throughout their life cycle, calculating harmful emissions and energy efficiency. How polluting is a traditional car compared to an electric one?
«Green NCAP takes into consideration three fundamental elements: the amount of fine particles emitted, emissions that alter the climate, energy efficiency. The data that emerged are very interesting: from the moment of construction to the moment of demolition, the energy consumed by an electric car is similar to that of a latest generation internal combustion engine car».