Just yesterday, we have published a column from our Joaquim Oliveira, where he stated, that sales of diesel cars are going down, they would not disappear from the streets just yet. While this may be true – or not, only time will tell – it is not something, that European Commissioner, Elzbieta Bienkowska would agree with.

"Diesel cars are finished," said Bienkowska in a recent interview for Bloomberg and continued that it is only a matter of a few years until they will completely vanish of the streets. Moreover, it was a long road to get to this point, with the main breakthrough being in autumn of 2015 and scandal with Volkswagen, after which people started turning backs against diesel cars.

Situation with diesel cars was previously particularly delicate in Europe, where people were most passionate for such cars. Diesel engines powered about half the cars. In addition, car manufacturers had very tight connections with governments so implementing laws to reduce pollution and NOx exhausts was a very difficult task.

Alas, European Commission now won the power to fine car manufacturers with up to 30.000 euros per car and can also order recalls of faulty cars. With such actions, European Union is finally becoming more like United States and China, where electric cars are much more popular. Adding interest from car manufacturers and other European companies we may finally be making important steps towards popularization of electric cars in Europe.