Carmakers call on European states to facilitate e-mobility breakthrough
Clean Energy Wire
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) has called on European leaders to come up with a coherent plan to facilitate the spread of electric mobility on the continent. At the IAA motor show in Frankfurt, ACEA presented its report on what it described as “key ‘enabling factors’ for stronger consumer acceptance of electric and other alternatively-powered cars in the EU”. A much quicker spread of e-cars across Europe is a prerequisite to reach the "extremely ambitious" 2025 and 2030 EU emission reduction targets, according to the association. ACEA head Carlos Tavares said achieving zero-emission mobility was a "shared responsibility" between carmakers and policymakers, meaning that "governments across the EU need to match the increasing pace at which we are launching these cars by dramatically stepping up investments in infrastructure" and offering purchase incentives that make buying an electric car more attractive. The ACEA report found that there were less than 145,000 e-car charging points available throughout the EU in 2018, a figure that would have to increase to 2.8 million by 2030 to meet the demand of a growing e-car fleet. Moreover, over 75 percent of existing charging points were found in just four countries: Germany, France, the Netherlands and the UK.
According to German energy industry group BDEW, one in four people in Germany say they might buy an e-car in the next five years. About 80 percent of all charging processes take place at home or at work, the group added. The number of public charging points in Germany stood at over 20,500 in 2019, which, the BDEW said was still "entirely sufficient" given the number of e-cars on the road. Germany has extended a buyer's premium for e-cars to 2020, allowing customers a rebate of up to 4,000 euros on the price of purely electric vehicles in a bid to quickly ramp up the number of e-cars on the road.
