Because it wants to protect its auto industry. And that industry has decades of experience with combustion engines.
“The big advantage of e-fuels is that you can keep your current engines and filling stations,” says Johan Driesen. “That sounds attractive, of course, because nobody likes to change.” Moreover, the traditional car manufacturers also earn more from their “fossil” cars than from electric ones. “All the components that power an electric car are different from a fossil car, the batteries and the electric motors. If you have to build that from scratch and convert your factories, a lot of development costs creep in. If you can build on your V8- engines, and maybe make them a little better, then it’s much easier and you earn it back right away.”
