Country needs to set deadline for changing gasoline cars, says senator

Brazil needs to set a deadline for replacing combustion cars with models powered by renewable fuels, and is able to quickly adapt to this change. This is the senator’s opinion Carlos Viana (Podemos-MG), rapporteur of the Bill 304/2017which intends to ban cars powered by fossil fuels from the country.

The project foresees the ban on the sale of cars powered by gasoline, diesel and natural gas (NGV) from 2030, and their circulation from 2040. The author of the proposal is Senator Ciro Nogueira (PP), which considers electric cars to be suitable replacements.

The proposal is being processed by the Environment Committee (CMA) and is awaiting public hearings requested by the rapporteur. The goal is hear representatives from the automotive sector to discuss how to renew the fleet and the dates for this.

There is still no scheduled date for the first hearing to take place, nor how many there will be in total. The idea is to debate the impacts and adaptation of the industry, as well as the date for the withdrawal of combustion cars from circulation in the country.

The project was scheduled to be voted on at the CMA, but was removed from the agenda at Viana’s request. He recognized that such transformations affect the structures of entire production chains, and that it would be unfeasible to carry out the process overnight.

“There is no way to prohibit it immediately, but we need to move towards a date”, says senator

“There is no way to immediately ban cars that exist today from circulating. And we can’t even replace them as quickly as we want, especially trucks. But we need to move towards a date”, the senator told People’s Gazette.

The CMA’s decision is final. It means that if the final text is approved by the committee and there is no appeal to the contrary, the text goes directly to the Chamber of Deputies, without going through the Senate plenary.

The dates of 2030 to prohibit the sale and 2040 to prevent the circulation of combustion cars sound detached from reality in the market’s understanding – even more so in a country where an electric car costs less than R$100,000, not to mention impact on the production chain.

“The studies and numbers are very clear: fossil fuel fleets are responsible for a large part of the carbon in the planet’s atmosphere. They are what are helping to increase temperatures and global warming. There is no denying that. Of course there are bottlenecks and difficulties, but replacing the fleet will be a decision that humanity will make sooner or later”, says Viana.

The senator cites Europe as an example, which had decided to end fossil fuel engines in 2035, but is already analyzing a new deadline because it has bottlenecks that will have to be resolved until the entire fleet is replaced.

“I think 2040 is too early for Brazil, it’s 16 years until then. But, whatever date it is, this fleet will have to be automatically replaced”, says the proposal’s rapporteur.

He believes that among the options for this transition are the creation of a fleet renewal financing program. Another path, he says, is to invest in hybrid vehicles that use ethanol.

“The electric car as we have today can even produce more carbon than an ethanol vehicle, for example, which is the Brazilian fuel and which, in a way, is the best option for our country today. We already have a hybrid fleet , we already have ethanol production that can be encouraged. In a way, we have greater ease in replacing the fleet and vehicles”, he states.

“With regard to trucks, we have the possibility of biofuels, in which Brazilian production is on the rise and research shows that they will be viable at a lower cost in a shorter period of time. Brazil is very capable of adapting quickly to the new times of non-fuel fuels. pollutants”, he believes.

“Climate change becomes more catastrophic and we have to make decisions”, says senator

For Viana, if there is an incentive for drivers to increasingly choose hybrid cars and use ethanol, the “transition will not face much difficulty on the part of Brazilian society.”

“One of the points of the public hearing that I asked for is to listen to the sector and understand how long we still need to live with fossil fuels. One thing is certain: there needs to be a date to end it. The question is we need to do it more quickly, within a period that allow the execution but let there be one planet left”, he states.

“Today we realize that climate change is starting to become increasingly catastrophic. Rains, floods, longer droughts. It’s not a matter for 50, 100 years. We have to make decisions”, he adds.