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Green Machines: Clean Cars Get EU Boost |
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Wednesday, 02 June 2010 00:00 |
| Scheme aims to spur electric vehicles – but work needed to improve common technical standards |
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The European Union could become the heartbeat for the world’s clean, energy-efficient vehicles, if plans to foster a high-tech electric car industry are fulfilled.
At a meeting in Brussels on May 25, EU industry ministers agreed on the need to develop a standardised system for recharging electric cars throughout Europe by next year as part of efforts to convince sceptical consumers. It was a priority to develop "a harmonised solution for the interoperability between electric vehicles and the charging infrastructure,” the ministers said, echoing calls from car firms and environmental campaigners to speed up work on common technical standards.
The ministers made their pledge as they backed the European Commission’s ‘clean car strategy’ to slash fuel consumption as well as carbon dioxide and pollutant emissions from road vehicles. The plans, called a ‘European Strategy on Clean and Energy Efficient Vehicles’, place the EU’s hopes in a green technology boom to turn around Europe's economy. And they aim to meet the EU’s climate change commitments, while reducing reliance on fossil fuels: transport accounts for 25% of carbon dioxide emissions and 73% of all oil consumed in Europe.
The strategy aims to promote the uptake of green vehicles without prejudice to technology, but it outlines specific action for electric cars, which it reckons are still missing a European framework. The specific actions proposed for electric vehicles include proposing electric safety requirements in 2010, the development of a standard for charging interfaces by 2011 and investment in charging infrastructure.
At their Brussels meeting, the ministers called for car-charging interfaces to be rapidly standardised to ensure that electric vehicles can be recharged anywhere within the EU, with any model of charger. They argued that interoperability between electric vehicles and the charging infrastructure is key to winning consumers' acceptance and thus creating a mass market for the new vehicles.
The ministers urged European standardisation bodies to come up with a harmonised solution for the interoperability of plugs by mid-2011. Harmonisation is of "key importance in order to ensure that electric vehicles can be recharged, domestically or at public station points without difficulty within the territory of the EU and with the use of any electric vehicle charger,” they said.
The ministers said this should take into account existing technical solutions and international work on standards, stressing the need to continue promoting EU standards internationally. Such a standardised and easy-to-use system, "is a prerequisite for consumer acceptance and, subsequently, the mass market uptake of electric vehicles," their joint statement said.
However for the technology to be widely accepted, the cars themselves will have to come with a reasonable price tag, enough battery power to make them feasible and an easy method of recharging, said Spanish Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency until the end of June 2010.
The ministers agreed that while regular petrol and diesel engines "will remain dominant in the short and medium term perspective", electric and future hydrogen vehicles were a "highly promising ultra-low-carbon" technology. Their wide introduction could cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce Europe's dependency on fossil fuels. Another benefit was reduced noise on the streets, although this could present the danger of pedestrians or other drivers being less aware of an approaching vehicle, they said.
Prospects for electric cars have never been better. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) estimates that electric vehicles could account for 3%-10% of new cars by 2020-25, which translates to 450,000 to 1.5 million cars sold in Europe, transforming road transport. The European Commission's enterprise department forecasts that battery-powered electric vehicles will have a 1%- 2% share of the market for new vehicles in 2020, rising to 11%-30% in 2030. And the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last year that combined sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids could reach at least five million globally by 2020 in order to ramp up their market share to 50% by 2050.
But there are still huge hurdles to overcome. As the ministers acknowledged, current international efforts to create standards for electric cars are fragmented. Within the EU, a handful of member states have been striving for faster progress on a European vision for electric vehicles.
Companies which provides electric cars and charging points want standards for plugs, sockets, connectors, in-car software systems and batteries, and for data communication systems that allows the car to ‘communicate' with the charging spot. Carmakers also want standards on re-charging points and billing systems to ensure that drivers can recharge their car in any country and do not have to register their billing details with multiple authorities.
It’s a massive bureaucratic tangle to resolve, but if the EU delivers on its pledges, Europe could live up to its promise to become the clean car capital of the world.
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