The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) once again, on Thursday 5 July, moved to warn MEPs against “unrealistic” targets when they vote on the draft European regulation dating from November of last year that seeks to reduce CO2 emissions from new cars and vans by 30% by 2030 with an intermediate target of a 15% reduction by 2025 (see EUROPE 12048).
A few days before the Parliament’s industry and transport committee is due to vote to deliver its opinion for the lead committee, on Tuesday 10 July, ACEA has published a study showing that it would be impossible to reach more ambitious targets than those proposed by the Commission if the infrastructure for charging electric vehicles is not in place.
To date there are some 100,000 charging points for electric vehicles in the EU. At least two million will be needed by 2025, a twenty-fold increase, according to conservative estimates by the European Commission, ACEA points out.
“MEPs need to be aware that without radical action by the member states, this simply won’t happen”, cautioned ACEA Secretary General Erik Jonnaert in a press release.
Fearing that some ambitious MEPs propose a 50% CO2 emissions reduction by 2030, ACEA states that a target of that scale would require 700,000 new charging points for electric cars to be installed every year from now on. That would mean a total of 8.4 million new charging points over the next 12 years, or 84 times more than today.
“All 28 member states must urgently step up their efforts to ensure an EU-wide network of recharging and refuelling infrastructure. Without this, consumers will never be convinced to make the switch to electrically-chargeable cars on a large scale.”
The study shows that of all charging points that exist in the EU today, 76% are concentrated in just four countries (the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK) which cover only 27% of the EU’s total surface area. ACEA therefore requests that targets are subject to a mid-term check to allow them to be adjusted to the actual situation.
The member states are divided on the level of ambition, as was evident in the political debate in the Environment Council (see above-mentioned EUROPE). The European Parliament’s environment committee, the lead committee on this issue, is due to vote on 10 September. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)