Post-2020 CO2 targets: Cars must be affordable and rechargeable, auto industry says

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“In the general context of an alarming geo-political environment and a heavy legislative agenda, one of the biggest challenges ahead of our industry remains further decarbonisation,” stated ACEA President and CEO of PSA Group, Carlos Tavares.

Future CO2 reductions are strongly dependent on sales of alternatively-powered cars, but affordability remains a major barrier for many Europeans in this respect. The latest data released by ACEA today show that 85% of all electrically-chargeable cars are sold in just six Western European countries with some of the highest GDPs.

By contrast, in countries with a GDP of less than €18,000, such as those in Central and Eastern Europe, the market share of electrically-chargeable cars remains close to zero. This is a serious problem, especially considering the European Commission’s proposal to set EU-wide ‘benchmarks’ for sales of full battery electric cars, at the level of 15% by 2025 and 30% by 2030.

“There is clearly a huge gap in Europe between today’s battery electric car sales and the Commission’s benchmark. Under this proposal, we would need to jump from less than 1% of sales today to 30% of sales in the space of less than 12 years,” stated Mr Tavares. “As the market is essentially driven by customers, the CO2 targets must be realistic, taking into account what people can really afford.”

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