11 months ago
The EU’s plan to have 30 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2030 has been called ‘far removed from today’s reality’ by a leading trade body.
The European Commission has laid out its Sustainable and Smart Mobility Package, which aims to make ‘the European transport system sustainable, smart and resilient’.
However, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which represents Europe’s car manufacturers, says a 50-fold increase in zero-emissions cars would be required in just 10 years to hit that target.
Its research shows that of the 243m passenger cars on EU roads last year, just 615,000 were zero-emission vehicles, representing 0.25 per cent on the whole car fleet.
Eric-Mark Huitema, director general of the ACEA, said: ‘Unfortunately this vision is far removed from today’s reality.
‘Despite industry investments in such vehicles and their growing market share, not all the right conditions are in place to make such a massive leap.’
The ACEA also warned that the European Commission’s public charging point target of three million ‘would require the deployment of 15 times more infrastructure over the next 11 years’.
The organisation says it wants EU legislators to push national governments to invest in charging and refuelling infrastructure to meet these goals.
Huitema added: ‘The European Commission should match its level of ambition for rolling out infrastructure across the EU with its ambition for reducing CO2 emissions from vehicles.
‘It is quite simple: the higher the climate targets become, the higher targets for charging points and refuelling stations should be.
‘Unfortunately, we still see a mismatch between these two elements at EU level.’
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