According to Stellantis, internal combustion engine vehicles may still be in use by 2050

Internal combustion engine (ICE) cars may still be in use by the year 2050, according to automaker Stellantis (STLAM.MI), necessitating the reduction of their carbon emissions until their eventual replacement by completely electric vehicles.

With names including Fiat, Peugeot, and Jeep, the third-largest automaker in the world by sales said this week that tests it conducted with Saudi Arabia’s Aramco had shown 24 different internal combustion engines in European cars it has made since 2014 can utilize cutting-edge e-fuels without modification.

Even though the European Union has excluded vehicles that operate on e-fuels from its 2035 deadline to phase out new carbon dioxide-emitting vehicles, Stellantis has reiterated its promise to have all new car sales in Europe be battery-electric by 2030.

According to Christian Mueller, Stellantis’ Senior Vice President of Propulsion Systems for the EMEA area, many of the new ICE cars Stellantis will be selling between now and 2029 will still be operating today.

He said that since automobiles have a long lifetime, the development of synthetic e-fuels, which are manufactured with renewable energy, is more crucial. “We have to really take care about our inventory fleet,” he said.

“After 20 years, I believe 25% of our cars are still in operation. Therefore, this kind of exposure period to e-fuels is significant, extremely significant, he said during a briefing.

With a possible decrease in CO2 emissions of up to 400 million metric tons between 2025 and 2050, Stellantis believes that its engine types that are compatible with e-fuels represent around 28 million cars on European roads.