April 18, 2017
BRUSSELS INSIDER #1 by Sonja van Renssen
Electric car revolution in Europe is sputtering
April 18, 2017
Electro-mobility advocates believe policies and economics will lead to an inevitable victory for EVs in Europe. But in many EU countries there are no affordable EVs on the market and 11 EU member states have failed to submit a plan for alternative infrastructure despite a November 2016 deadline.
Supporters of electro-mobility are optimistic about the chances of EVs in Europe. They are convinced the European Commission will set fuel efficiency standards that make electric vehicles inevitable. They see the carmakers investing and argue that the macroeconomics simply make too much sense: the switch from imported oil to domestic energy, the financial savings for households and the fact that three-quarters of the automotive value chain is in the hands of component suppliers such as Bosch and Valeo, who can benefit equally from supplying electric as traditional vehicles.
And yet. One of the biggest complaints from local and national policymakers at an event in Brussels on the “the electro-mobility revolution” in Central and Eastern Europe was: “there are no cars”.
“Getting people to use them is the biggest challenge,” said Matjaž Vrčko, Secretary of International Affairs at the Ministry of Infrastructure in Slovenia. Colleagues from countries such as Croatia agreed that compared to the classic second-hand cars that dominate these markets, electric alternatives are just too pricey, even with government subsidies.
The problem for these countries is that they have to roll out a charging infrastructure even as they perceive a lack of vehicles to make use of it. The EU’s alternative fuel infrastructure directive, adopted back in 2014, requires all member states to submit plans for alternative fuel infrastructures (CNG and LNG as well as electricity) to the European Commission. The deadline was last November. By 4 April, the day of the event, 17 out of 28 member states had complied, said Maja Bakran-Marcich, the Commission’s Deputy Director-General for Mobility and Transport.
She spoke of “encouraging signals” within the plans. A colleague pointed out that two Central and Eastern European countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, had been the first to submit. But another Commission official suggested that “something is not working properly” with nearly half the plans still missing. The European multi-stakeholder “Platform for Electro-mobility” issued a statement at the end of March calling on member states “to show more urgency”.
Meanwhile, an electro-mobility expert based in Brussels suggested to Energy Post that most of the plans so far are “too weak”. He argues that this is a missed opportunity: get the charging infrastructure in place and the cars will follow. “These [infrastructure] projects are useful to break range anxiety [ed: the worry about running out of fuel],” he explained.
So far, only about a fifth of 100 EU-funded “innovative” transport infrastructure projects have been in the field of electro-mobility (versus nearly two-thirds in gas). But that may change going forward. At the end of April, the Commission is due to announce the results of its first ever €40-million “Synergy Call”. This will award EU funds to infrastructure projects that take on all of energy, transport and ICT. Expect the winners to include projects that foresee the installation of batteries at electric vehicle charging stations for example, and other smart grid initiatives.
In summer, the Commission will also announce the results from a bigger nearly €2-billion call for all kinds of transport projects in the European interest. Just over half of that call, which closed in February, was reserved for “cohesion” countries or poorer EU member states. Within that, €60 million was reserved for “innovative” projects. It is through this that electro-mobility advocates hope to make a breakthrough in Central and Eastern Europe.
One project in the running for €20 million is Next-E, which aims to build 222 fast chargers and 30 “ultra-fast” chargers across the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia and Romania, connecting the region up to Western Europe. The project’s advocates argue that it is unprecedented because of its cross-border scale, mix of charging technologies and range of stakeholders. It gets oil and gas companies (MOL and Petrol) on board, as well as involving carmakers (Nissan and BMW) and utilities (e.g. Eon).
Its sister project is Urban-E, which is applying for €4 million from a different part of the €2-billion call, to deploy 23 DC and 144 AC fast chargers in Ljubljana (Slovenia), Bratislava (Slovakia) and Zagreb (Croatia). Concurrent to the physical infrastructure, it aims to launch innovative mobility services such as e-car sharing to secure the chargers’ early use.
It first became possible to apply for funding for “innovative” transport infrastructure projects in 2010 (until then EU funds were reserved for classical projects such as railways, roads and ports). The only project to win that first time round was one that deployed an electric charging infrastructure in the Netherlands and Denmark, with studies in Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg.
The electric charging projects in the running today aim to take those early steps into new regions and technologies. They can help underpin the alternative fuel infrastructure plans required by Brussels. A still-open transport “blending” call, which seeks to unite EU with non-EU public and private funds, actually opens up the possibility of funding the deployment of vehicles as well as their infrastructure, an EU official said at the 4 April event.
But there is plenty of competition. Even in the “innovation” category, electric charging projects such as Next-E will have to fight off competition from for example the railways. With much uncertainty hanging over the future of the EU budget – with a review due this year and Brexit looming – plus a big transport policy package in the making (see the next article), now is the moment when Brussels helps shape Europe’s energy future in transport.
BRUSSELS INSIDER #2 by Sonja van Renssen
EU prepares final pillar of Energy Union: transport
April 18, 2017
The European Commission is working on a big transport package that will wrap up its legislative work on the Energy Union. The package will complete its vision for an energy and climate policy for transport for 2030. It includes many sensitive proposals, such as a plan to differentiate tolls for trucks on the basis of CO2 emissions and new CO2 emission standards for cars and trucks after 2020.
The foundations for the new package were set out in a low-emission mobility strategy issued last summer. It will complement proposals already out there on for example:
- biofuels (as part of a new EU renewable energy directive)
- decarbonisation (the transport sector is the main target of an “effort-sharing” regulation that sets greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for national governments for those parts of the economy outside the EU Emission Trading System), and
- energy efficiency (e.g. a revised energy performance of buildings directive proposes to mandate electric vehicle recharging points in buildings with at least ten parking spaces)
Word on the ground in Brussels is that the new package will come out in two parts: a first part in May (31 May, to be exact) and a second part in November.
The first part will consist of three proposals, one of which will have direct consequences for energy use in transport: a revision of the so-called “Eurovignette” directive that defines how member states can impose road charges on trucks.
The other May proposals are expected to deal with coastal navigation and the social aspects of freight transport. The latter could impact fuel use by imposing logistical changes, for example via driver rest schedules and cabotage rules.
For Samuel Kenny, Freight and Rail Transport Officer at NGO Transport and Environment (T&E), the most significant upcoming change to the Eurovignette directive is the Commission’s plan to let member states differentiate tolls on the basis of truck CO2 emissions. He also welcomes the plan to push for the replacement of time-based charging with distance-based charging in those member states (just nine) where it still exists, he told Energy Post. This means that emissions from each kilometre would be accounted for.
The proposals are a natural next step in a longer term drive to clean up the European trucking sector. In 2010, the EU introduced the option of charging trucks for (non-CO2) air and noise pollution (prior to that, member states could only charge for infrastructure use). The upcoming shift to CO2-differentiated tolling reflects the growing importance of transport to a successful climate and energy transition policy. Trucks account for about a quarter of CO2 emissions from road transport.
A new report commissioned by T&E released on 11 April confirms that “transport efficiency in the road sector can be improved by increasing the cost pressure”. What Kenny is still looking for in the upcoming proposals is a clearly worded discount or even exemption for “zero-emission” (read: electric) trucks. “We should not underestimate how soon they will come,” he says. “An exemption would be a push for them.”
The current Commission has also promised CO2 emission standards for trucks, just like those that already exist for cars and vans, but proposals for these are not expected until 2018 at the earliest (if they come at all – some say the current Commission may stop at setting a timeline for their introduction).
The second part of the Commission’s transport package, due in November, is expected to:
- Return to the question of how to deploy (and finance) a fit-for-purpose European transport infrastructure;
On this, it is not easy to imagine what more there is for the EU to do, since it already has a Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) policy, plus accompanying funds (the “Connecting Europe Facility”) to help roll it out. One likely option is fresh guidance on how this money should be spent, including a greater push for one, projects that target synergies between transport, energy and ICT, and two, “blending”, or combining EU grants with loans or equity from public and private financiers.
- Propose intensified support for battery research;
Mobility experts expect a call for more R&D into next generation batteries, for example by redirecting funds from the EU’s existing Horizon 2020 research programme. In its Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan, which is supposed to the innovation pillar of the Energy Union, the EU says one of its priorities is to “become competitive in the global battery sector to drive e-mobility forward”.
- Help (re-)build consumer confidence (after Dieselgate), for example through a revised car CO2 labelling directive;
The car labelling directive aims to raise awareness on the fuel use and CO2 emissions of new cars. The Commission sees it as an important demand-side measure to help car manufacturers meet their CO2 emission standards. Its overhaul has been a long time coming (it dates back to 1999); doing it now would be an opportunity to restore confidence between car manufacturers and consumers (alongside the switch to – and EU oversight of – new “real-world” tests for all car emissions).
- Unveil CO2 emission standards for cars and vans for after 2020 (the target date of the current standard: 95gCO2/km fleet average for new cars).
This last will be the big political dossier in the November transport package. Aside from exactly what emission reduction the Commission will propose, a big question is whether it will suggest an interim target for 2025 as well a target for 2030. Another big question is whether the Commission will propose a mandate for electric vehicles sales, like California has (rather than letting them count extra towards the fleet average, for example).