The EU Should Reset The Narrative On Car Electrification, Says Broad Coalition Of Business Teams And Civil Society

Help CleanTechnica’s work by way of a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

In a letter to EU leaders, the group says that reasonably than decreasing ambition, Europe should concentrate on accelerating electrification.

To: Heads of State or Authorities of the European Union,

Expensive Heads of State or Authorities of the European Union,

We, a broad coalition representing non-governmental organizations, assume tanks, vitality suppliers, renewable and cleantech industries, and the e-mobility sector, are writing to precise our concern over the present route of EU discussions on car electrification within the context of the continuing oil disaster.

Street transport stays the first driver of Europe’s oil dependency. Passenger vehicles alone devour roughly 1 billion barrels of imported oil yearly. This structural dependency prices the EU a whole bunch of billions of euros yearly, weakens our economic system and leaves European residents uncovered to geopolitical shocks and risky gasoline costs.

The most recent surge in oil costs following the escalating battle within the Center East is yet one more reminder of this vulnerability. However not like in earlier crises, Europe now has a available structural answer.

Electrical automobiles are a mature and more and more reasonably priced know-how. Carmakers have launched quite a few new fashions, driving fast development in EV gross sales. Each electrical car on the highway reduces oil demand, shields households from worth volatility, and strengthens Europe’s vitality and financial safety.

On this context, the assessment of the automotive CO₂ requirements and the continuing discussions on the automotive bundle sends the improper sign on the improper time.

Proposals to weaken the agreed targets are out of contact with the pressing want to guard Europeans, strengthen our resilience, and reinforce our strategic sovereignty.

Reasonably than decreasing the ambition of lately agreed laws, political leaders should concentrate on accelerating electrification. Coverage reversals at this stage would undermine investor confidence, delay industrial transformation, threaten EU air high quality aims and its zero-pollution imaginative and prescient for 2050, and lengthen Europe’s dependence on imported oil.

The EU should subsequently reset the narrative on electrification. The controversy ought to not concentrate on slowing the transition, however on the right way to speed up it within the curiosity of Europe’s vitality safety, financial resilience, and industrial management.

We subsequently name on EU leaders to undertake a powerful imaginative and prescient and concrete motion to speed up car electrification. Specifically, this implies safeguarding the automotive CO₂ targets adopted simply three years in the past, quickly implementing nationwide electrification motion plans, and supporting measures reminiscent of social leasing schemes, charging infrastructure deployment, and the removing of grid bottlenecks.

Now could be the time for political management. Europe should select: proceed to bear the value of oil dependency, or decisively construct a clear, sovereign, and reasonably priced mobility system supported by a powerful EU clear business.

Sincerely,

—

To see the complete listing of signatories, obtain the letter.

Article from T&E.