Platform for Electromobility: Time to focus Green Recovery on e-mobility
The Platform for Electromobility has called for e-mobility to play a central role in Europe's Green Deal and recovery plan from COVID-19.
The Platform, representing almost 40 companies, associations and civil society across the electro-mobility ecosystem, has published a policy paper outlining its vision for a Green Deal and making recommendations for supporting e-mobility as Europe recovers from the COVID-19 outbreak.
The report highlights the need for a green recovery from COVID-19 to be front and centre of Europe's approach, and that e-mobility can tackle the twin challenges of economic and climate crises now facing the world. Electrification of transport can provide a strong basis to relaunch the economy and future-proof jobs across Europe.
The report highlights the need for e-mobility to play a central role in the coming months and makes key recommendations, including:
- Electro-mobility remains the best solution to achieve the climate and industrial ambition of the European Green Deal for transport. This ecosystem is crucial to Europe’s economic relaunch in the aftermath of COVID-19 and will create over 1 million jobs in vehicle and rail manufacturing, charging infrastructure deployment and supply chains such as batteries by 2030.
- The EU Recovery Package must support the e-mobility ecosystem, including the continued demand for zero emission vehicles, green investments into e-mobility supply chains and stimulus to accelerate the roll-out of charging infrastructure across Europe, notably workplace & residential schemes.
- The Commission should not delay the enabling policies key to e-mobility’s success, including the urgently needed review of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure law, the Sustainable Battery package and the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive.
The report also makes specific recommendations for e-mobility in the EU's recovery package from COVID-19, including:
- The recovery measures should balance economic relief of workers and long- term decarbonisation of the transport sector, which is key to achieve Europe's overarching Green Deal objectives, namely carbon neutrality by 2050
- In the short and medium term, measures should be undertaken to revive the demand for clean mobility & zero emission technologies, for example, allowing Member States to temporarily waive VAT on low and zero emission vehicles and an EU-wide scrappage scheme to support the sales of zero-emission vehicles and support public transport
- Green stimulus to accelerate the uptake of electric cars, vans and trucks by public and business fleets across Europe
- Long-term targets and internal combustion engine phase-out plans should be kept in place and enforced by national governments and local administrations alike
- Massive infrastructure investment programmes into rail should be part of the EU recovery plan, including a shift to rail freight in line with the Commission's Green Deal strategy
You can view the policy paper here.
