Internal combustion engines just received another figurative death threat, once again from their established arch-enemy: European Union regulators.

EU politicians, along with the individual national and municipal governments of its member countries, have been talking about bans on internal combustion engines for some time now. It’s all part of a package: Cut carbon emissions, promote electric vehicles, research synthetic fuels and other alternative energies… Errrrr, sort of.That last option seems to be off the menu at this point.

The most recent vote on this issue had EU leadership reaffirming a decision from July, 2021: Ban all sales of gasoline-powered cars by 2035. Some member countries weren’t super-happy about this, and a couple of countries (Germany, Italy) proposed some sort of allowance for synthetic-fueled engines or some other provision for futuristic internal combustion designs. But, the rest of the EU said too bad, so sad, and 2035 it is. There will be one more voting session this year, to officially word the law, and then it’s done.

Or so the plan goes, anyway. One thing’s for sure: This eco-progress always seems to encounter hurdles, such as the war in Ukraine, that hinder things from moving forward.

What about motorcycles?

This new law is specifically aimed at cars, so what about motorcycles?

The reality is, the law doesn’t have to actually name motorcycles to effectively ban them. Look at it this way. Currently, rising gasoline prices are already forcing people to buy EVs. The new EU laws will push manufacturers to develop more electric cars; although the law won’t ban previously-built gasoline engines (at least, not yet), it will make it less attractive to own a petroleum-powered car. That means gas won’t just be harder to afford in a few years, it’ll be hard to find. Eventually, service stations will go the way of the livery stables that the country ran on, before the Model T took over. The range anxiety you currently feel in an EV? That will be transposed to your gasoline vehicle, as gas pumps disappear.

At least, that’s the way it seems likely to play out, at this point. What’s your perspective?