Consumers will not automatically make the switch to plug-in electric vehicles if running costs are high, a recharging station network is not in place, or if new technologies are not user-friendly, according to a new policy paper by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) European Bureau.
The policy document, “Towards E-Mobility: The Challenges Ahead”, is being released in advance of the anticipated release of a new European Commission White Paper on Transport as well as the entry of several new electric vehicles into the market in the coming months. It outlines issues for consumers, public policy, and safety, and makes a series of recommendations to encourage “an appropriate development” of EVs within the framework of clean mobility generally. These recommendations include:
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Individual and clean mobility should be promoted
according to the technology neutral principle.
Policies should support hybrid vehicles and the
continuing efficiency improvements in internal
combustion engines as well as supporting emobility
and its development. This reflects the
current state of technologies and the forecasts that
BEV and PHEV will represent only a niche market in
the next 15 years When member states promote
tax, circulation and local traffic incentives, they
should be related to carbon emission performance
(preferably on a well-to-wheel basis), rather than to
specific technologies. -
Investment in all aspects of battery research and
development should be promoted, with the object
of reducing its cost, improving its capacity/mass
performance, and reducing the longer term
environmental impacts of its raw materials and
processing. -
Establish as soon as possible the standards of the
specifications for battery charging arrangements
and protocols, in order to promote and sustain
competition on the energy market and to prevent
the emergence of monopolies. -
Establishing open standards for the testing of
battery condition and expected remaining battery
lifetime, in order to promote a fair resale value and
crime prevention. This would help lower the barrier
of asymmetric information between buyer and
seller, making the second hand market more
transparent for consumers. -
Work to increase consumers’ experiences of electric
vehicles: run demonstration programs to test
both the technologies and users’ behaviour.
Consumers must be engaged by giving them the
opportunity to drive and get used to electric
vehicles (cars, scooters, bicycles). -
Explore some niche markets which are already
ready to be made more favorable to electric
vehicles (in particular BEV and PHEV): car-sharing
schemes, small size fleets, public fleets, second
family cars, young people more familiar with new
technologies. In particular, public authorities, by
using their purchasing power to choose
environmentally friendly vehicles for their fleet (as
requested by the green procurement procedures),
can represent an important driver of the
deployment of electric vehicles, reinforcing the
principle of leading by example at the same time. -
Promote transparency and consistency in the
carbon rating of plug-in vehicles (also recognizing
the challenge of accounting for carbon content in
electricity, varying between countries and
recharging regimes) – partly to counter commercial
and political pressures to present BEVs as having
“zero emissions”.
E-mobility, with the definition used in the present paper,
will still only represent a niche market up to 2025. While
we support the trials and market roll-out of EVs, and
specific measures to address the concerns and
challenges we have identified, it is vital that attention
should not be diverted from promoting the continuing
efficiency improvements in conventional ICE-driven cars
and the adoption of conventional hybrids. Together
these actions offer very significant scope for reducing
emissions. Tax incentives for consumers, and local
incentive policies adopted by cities and towns to
encourage low carbon vehicle use, must be technology
neutral – with the incentives relating to the carbon emission
performance of the vehicles, preferably
calculated on a well-to-wheel basis.
Furthermore, it is important to have a strategic view on
clean and accessible mobility that goes beyond the car.
Current use of cars is unsustainable in some cities and
even if we could replace the conventional vehicle fleet
with electric vehicles we would not solve the problem of
individual mobility but only shift to a “green-congestion”.—“Towards E-Mobility”
The FIA and its 71 member clubs represent more than
35 million motorists in Europe.
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