By Nick Carey
LONDON (Reuters) – The EU should stick to 2025 CO2 emission rules and roll out incentives to buy EVs rather than waive fines for automakers that miss targets, a European industry group representing automakers, battery makers and charging firms said on Monday.
E-Mobility Europe said new research from British firm New Automotive shows the 2025 emission rules for cars should lead to an almost 65% increase in sales of fully electric vehicles across the European Union this year – without those rules in place sales should increase 33%.
The group said a number of new EV models under 25,000 euros ($25,660) should hit the market this year – including the Renault R5, the Fiat Grand Panda, Hyundai Inster and the VW ID.2 – and E-Mobility Europe’s secretary general Chris Heron told Reuters the EU could use money from tariffs levied on Chinese-made EVs or relief funds left over from the coronavirus pandemic to fund incentives for consumers.
“With targets in place, there will be a massive push to sell electric cars this year,” Heron said. “If Europe’s governments get on board, realistically we can end up with a year where fines don’t need to be issued.”
Under the EU’s 2025 CO2 emission targets more than one fifth of automakers’ sales need to be fully electric, but EVs only accounted for 13.6% of new car sales in 2024.
Europe’s auto industry has estimated it could face 15 billion euros in fines for missing those targets and has called for the European Commission to waive those fines.
Previously called Avere, E-Mobility Europe’s membership spans the EV ecosystem and includes Tesla, Chinese battery maker CATL and Dutch fast-charging company Fastned.
Fastned CEO Michiel Langezaal estimated so far charging companies have invested 10 billion euros in infrastructure and investors will become reluctant to provide funding if the EU backs off its goals.
“It’s incredibly important to keep the targets in place to ensure the entire industry transitions, otherwise that infrastructure cannot be built up,” Langezaal said.
($1 = 0.9743 euros)
(Reporting By Nick Carey; editing by David Evans)
