Right now, it is up to EU countries to decide whether electric cars should receive government subsidies or not. But the EU will do something about that, confirms Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera.
The EU is planning to introduce uniform state support for new electric cars across all member states. The Commission wants to create a common system of subsidies that will make it easier for both consumers and car manufacturers to navigate the electric car market.
Today, the conditions for state support for electric cars vary from country to country. This difference creates an unfair competition that the EU now wants to address with a harmonised system.
"It makes sense to see how, from a pan-European perspective, we could figure out how to ease the measures instead of going through national subsidies," EU Commissioner Teresa Ribera told the Financial Times.
However, Ribera stresses that it is important to ensure that state support does not violate international trade rules, especially in light of the increasing share of Chinese cars on the European market.
The EU has been in dialogue with car manufacturers about alternative investment options. Car brands in the EU have already complained loudly about the prospect of huge fines if they do not build enough electric cars.
The car manufacturers are also concerned that the many stalls they have will hinder their ability to invest in new technologies, and thus better cars.
The car brands point out that the purchase of so-called CO2 quotas, which the industry must stay within, in the vast majority of cases only benefits competition from China. But the EU is sticking to the ban on petrol and diesel cars and the new quota rules.
– It is important to ensure that the legislation helps the main goal – to phase out gasoline and diesel cars, says Ribera.
The EU maintains the goal of phasing out combustion engines by 2035. However, Ribera opens up some flexibility in relation to annual sales targets for electric cars and the quotas that can be imposed on car brands if they build enough electric cars.
In addition to supporting the automotive industry, Ribera is open to introducing further measures to strengthen European industry in general.
She specifically mentions the possibility of introducing local content requirements to protect European molle producers who are facing fierce competition from Chinese companies.
With harmonized state support for electric cars, the EU wants to create a more uniform market, which, however, must only promote the sale of electric cars.
