European Commission`s shift to electrified transport on the right track says Platform for Electro-Mobility

07/22/2016 | Print view

Solarpower Europe and other organizations applaud the EU Commission’s Strategy for Low Emission Mobility, that includes to foster charging infrastructure. - © HCN — © HCN

Solarpower Europe and other organizations applaud the EU Commission’s Strategy for Low Emission Mobility, that includes to foster charging infrastructure.

The Platform for Electro-mobility welcomes the European Commission’s Strategy for Low Emission Mobility in driving the shift to clean, low carbon transport powered by electricity. Integrating all type of emissions is one key element of the uptake of electric vehicles, especially in cities and urban areas, allowing local and regional authorities to better comply with other European standards beyond CO2 emissions.

In its representations to the Commission, the Platform highlighted that electro-mobility provides a huge opportunity for innovation and job creation and allows Europe to reduce its dependency on imported oil. 94 percent on energy use in transport is oil and the shift away from this is recognised in the Strategy with one of the three pillars focused on “Low-emission alternative energy for transport.” This transformation can create over a million additional jobs and reduce the millions of euros of costs of transport-related air pollution emissions.

Concrete actions for electro-mobility needed

Platform Chair Senan McGrath said, “The Strategy recognises the pivotal potential for electro-mobility in the EU’s low emissions transport strategy. Now we need this translated into concrete actions to end road transport’s addiction to oil and encourage the shift to low emissions electric multimodality. In doing so there is a unique opportunity for European business to be at the forefront of delivering clean, green and energy efficient mobility. We look forward to working with the Commission in developing these proposals.”

Integrate electro-mobility in the EU Energy Market Reform

Key announcements welcomed by the Platform include recognition that to achieve widespread adoption of electric vehicles, charging infrastructure needs to become widely available throughout Europe and that financing opportunities through the European Fund for Strategic Investments will be further exploited to achieve this. The Platform also welcomes the emphasis upon open cross border and EU-wide electro-mobility services market for consumers including providing real-time information on public charging points and supporting interoperable payment systems. The need to facilitate integration of electric vehicles with smart grids based on innovative technologies and advanced market rules will be key to further accelerate overall adoption of electro-mobility and must be a feature of the forthcoming Energy Market Reform.

Support through a wide range of measures

The Platform was also pleased that the Strategy recognises that “transformational change towards low- and zero-emission vehicles will need to be supported by a wide range of measures at all levels of policy-making to engage both manufacturers and users.” Also, that it recognises the importance of electric rail services for both passengers and freight. However, the Platform is disappointed that the Strategy has a limited focus on ways to reduce emissions in urban environments including through the use of light electric vehicles such as scooters and e-bikes.

Clean energy as the dominant source for transport

Senan McGrath concluded, “The shift to electro-mobility requires action at the EU, national and local level and by the public and private sectors working in their common interests. The Commission has signaled it is persuaded and the members of the Platform are working to make this a growing reality. Now we need all EU Member States to embrace the agenda with the common commitment to enable clean electricity to become the dominant energy source for transport both within and between cities.”

Reducing energy dependence from fossil fuel imports

The Platform for Electro-Mobility is a European alliance of over 20 producers, infrastructure managers, operators, transport users, cities and civil society organizations from across industries and transport modes including Solarpower Europe. The Platform advocates the acceleration of electrification of all modes of transport, focusing on its numerous benefits, such as emission reduction, efficiency gains, support for technological innovation, jobs and growth through value creation in Europe as well as reducing Europe’s energy dependence from fossil fuel imports. The vision of the Platform for Electro-mobility is a sustainable, multimodal transport system in which people and goods are predominantly moved across land in Europe using sustainable electricity. (HCN)