Legislation requiring businesses to opt for electric vehicles for their company fleets could lead to sales of 2 million EVs by 2030, lobby group Transport & Environment (T&E) has said.
The European Commission is planning to announce its Automotive Industrial Action Plan on 5 March, which has the potential to deliver approximately half of the EV sales that European carmakers need to meet their binding 2030 CO₂ emissions target and avoid paying penalties, T&E noted.
This would rise to 54% and 58% for Stellantis and BMW, it added.
T&E is calling for an EU target to be established to ensure that all fleets of more than 100 cars need to be fully electric by 2030, to support the transition to more sustainable transport networks.
Boost demand
“Today, more than ever before, Europe needs climate policies that also strengthen our competitiveness,” commented Stef Cornelis, director electric fleets programme at T&E. “Electrification targets for large fleets are doing exactly that – we ask large companies to go faster on electric and as such boost demand for more than 2 million EVs made by European car manufacturers.”
“Instead of lobbying to weaken emissions rules, European carmakers should advocate for a European fleets law that will actually support them in meeting their targets.”
Corporate fleets account for around 60% of all new car sales in the EU, however despite this, businesses are slow to embrace electrification, with corporate EV sales taking place at the same pace as private households (14.3% vs 13.6%), or even behind that of private buyers in countries such as Germany and France.
Rewarding production
Beyond fleet electrification, T&E is also urging the European Commission to introduce an ‘EU eco-score’ initiative – inspired by France’s ‘ecobonus’ system – which would rate and reward the production of low-carbon EVs made with clean energy and sustainable materials.
“As a next step, the European Commission needs to move forward quickly by announcing binding electrification targets for large fleets,” Cornelis added. “This will create investment certainty, not only for carmakers but also other key sectors such as the charging infrastructure industry in helping them to plan grid infrastructure roll-out and investments.” Read more here.
