In its annual ‘speech from the throne’, the European Union comes with a specter for car manufacturers. CO2 emissions in the EU must be reduced faster than planned and that will undoubtedly also have consequences for the car industry.
The EU is not going fast enough to reduce emissions, so the Union is tightening its targets. By 2030, CO2 emissions must be 55 percent lower than in 1990. A reduction of 40 percent was previously set as a target. A significant adjustment, therefore, which will undoubtedly be felt in various industries. One of these is of course the car industry, which is already achieving or just not achieving its current goals with pain and effort. According to ACEA, the European association of car manufacturers, the new target is therefore causing the necessary suspicion. That draws Automotive News on.
It is not yet known what concrete tightening this will mean for the car industry. It is reported that between 2021 and 2030, the average emissions from a manufacturer’s fleet should be reduced by 50 percent, not 37.5 percent (existing target). According to ACEA, this is a goal that will cause problems for manufacturers and the EU should not only think in terms of goals: “In addition to goals, policymakers must also provide policy support for all car types. If not, these goals are simply not to get.”
Charging options in the EU are an important aspect, according to ACEA, the number of charging points in the EU is not growing fast enough to sufficiently support the transition to electric driving required for these types of goals. ‘Someone from the industry’ contrasts Automotive News that the EU looks too much at successful growth in the number of EVs in countries such as the Netherlands. “Two out of three Europeans have to buy an EV to achieve this goal. To do that, the infrastructure must grow. Determining the impact of a goal and expecting the industry to achieve that goal itself is not possible.”