ACEA document told Environment Ministers to slash car CO2 targets, depriving motorists of more affordable EV models.
The European car industry’s latest demands for weaker climate targets could result in an extra €74bn of oil imports – just as interest in buying EVs reaches new peaks. That’s according to T&E analysis of a leaked position paper issued by lobby group ACEA to Environment Ministers in March. T&E said the irresponsible proposal would delay the rollout of more affordable EV models at a time of high petrol prices and drastically increase oil dependency compared to the current EU car CO2 targets.
The ACEA paper calls for the averaging of carmakers’ 2030 EU CO2 targets over five years – a significant weakening compared to the EU Commission’s proposal to average over three years. It also calls for the cancellation of the new utility factor that more accurately counts plug-in hybrid vehicles’ (PHEV) emissions. The German government yesterday adopted ACEA's position of prolonging sales of polluting PHEVs, a move which – if implemented – would only delay the EU car industry’s transition to fully electric cars and widen the gap with China.
If ACEA's demands are accepted, it would allow carmakers to sell far fewer battery electric vehicles (BEV) and far more polluting combustion engines than under the current target. T&E calculates it could lead to BEV sales flatlining at their current 21% market share for the rest of the decade – instead of 57% in 2030 required by the current law. (....)