The European Union should allow the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles past the 2035 deadline by allowing the sale of cars running on biofuels, acording to the German Finance Minister.
From 2035, the European Union will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans - the same year as the UK.
It was recently agreed that the EU would introduce the ban in 2035, despite last-minute efforts to block the legislation by Germany.
The ban was eventually confirmed once a compromise was agreed to allow for greater provisions for e-fuels - synthetic and cleaner fuels which produce fewer emissions.
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The German Finance Minister said drivers should be able to make their own decisions
GETTYChristian Lindner, German Finance Minister, said while electric vehicle technology is "fascinating", other alternatives are available.
The Bundestag member for North Rhine-Westphalia, representing the Free Democratic Party, said: "The market should then decide what is economical and what consumers want, not politicians and civil servants.
"Against the resistance of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, we managed to ensure that there will be an exception to the ban on combustion engines in 2035 if vehicles are powered by synthetic fuels.
"But we should go further and focus on technological openness in general," he told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.
The 45-year-old said that synthetic liquid fuels and biofuels were also potential ways to "achieve financial friendliness".
The UK will also be banning the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2035, rather than the original target of 2030.
In September 2023, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that rules needed to change in the UK to give drivers time to adapt to electric vehicles by allowing more chargers to be installed and prices to fall.
He said motorists should be the ones to decide when people switch, rather than having the Government impose rules on them, with Lindner echoing this sentiment.
There have been conflicting opinions around the decision to delay the ban on ICE sales, with Labour promising to U-turn the Conservative policy and return the original 2030 deadline.
The UK's net zero goals will be supported by the introduction of the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, which launched at the start of this year.
It will see manufacturers required to have a minimum proportion of its total vehicle sales be electric or they could face hefty fines.
The initial target stands at 22 per cent of sales being electric from the end of this year, with targets gradually increasing until 2035.
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Germany's Minister of Finance Christian Lindner suggested that changes could be made
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The target will be heightened to 80 per cent of new car sales by 2030 and 100 per cent of car and van sales being electric by 2035.
