Experts discussed the obstacles to decarbonising road transport in Europe on Monday 7 April at the ‘EU Energy Summit’ organised by European Business Summit.
Magda Kopczyńska, the European Commission’s Director-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), spoke of the complexity of setting up charging stations for electric heavy goods vehicles. She mentioned in particular the difficulties encountered by companies in obtaining authorisations at national level.
In addition, the revision of the directive on vehicle weights and dimensions, which should allow more goods to be transported at once, has been blocked in the EU Council since 2023 (see EUROPE 13586/17). “There are some countries in the EU which are still very, very reluctant to start allowing that for cross border international transportation, and talking about a predictable framework that will allow companies that buy those trucks to pay back their investments”, stressed Ms Kopczyńska.
As James Waterworth, Director of EU Public Policy at Amazon, points out, 85% of transport companies are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which are experiencing financing difficulties. He mentioned the higher costs for electric fleets for businesses, particularly for insurance and maintenance.
MEP Virginijus Sinkevičius (Greens/EFA, Lithuanian), for his part, spoke of the difficulties for private individuals in accessing electric cars and the fact that they are turning more towards hybrid vehicles. He argued in favour of creating favourable conditions for purchasing, on the one hand, and providing the necessary infrastructure in both private and public places, on the other. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)