The European Commission has unveiled its action plan for the European automotive industry. The plan is the outcome of the strategic dialogue on the future of the European automotive industry initiated by the commission in January in response to the sector’s discontent with climate targets deemed unattainable in the face of fierce global competition. This has been the main demand of European carmakers in recent months: to obtain a reprieve from the target of reducing their CO2 emissions from sales by 15% by 2025, on pain of fines. Their request has been granted.

The commission is going to review the regulation on CO2 standards for cars and vans, and is now proposing to take account of their average emissions over three years, between 2025 and 2027. But it remains firm on the ban on the sale of new combustion-powered cars in 2035: the target is maintained. The review clause on the ban on internal combustion engines in 2035, which will enable an assessment to be made of whether this objective has been achieved in the face of existing technologies, scheduled for 2026, has been brought forward to this year.

€1.8bn for an autonomous battery industry

To achieve the goal of a fleet of 100% electric cars by 2035, the European executive is releasing €1.8bn to create a secure and competitive European supply chain for battery raw materials. The EU commission is also launching the European Alliance for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. This alliance “will bring together Europe’s automotive stakeholders to shape the development of next-generation vehicles and help develop the shared software and digital hardware needed to bring this technology to life,” explained European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

The commission will continue to develop the regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles. Large-scale test beds and regulatory sandboxes will give innovators the freedom to test and refine their technologies for autonomous vehicles. A budget of €1bn over the period 2025-2027, financed by the Horizon Europe programme, will be allocated to this part of the plan.

The European Commission also wants to play on the decarbonisation of company fleets to support the development of electric cars. Company fleets account for around 60% of new car registrations in Europe. Obligations could be imposed on companies to speed up the greening of their fleets. At the same time, the commission will recommend that member states introduce purchase subsidies targeted at low-income households.

This article was originally published in .