Last week (see article) we looked at the commitments made by Japan, China and the USA to support an electric vehicle revolution after the Nikkei reported that Japan could be left behind its rivals (see article). However, Europe was not even mentioned by the business daily – so the question remains; is our own continent playing catch up?
Here we look at the efforts being made by some of the leading European nations to support electrification.
EUROPEAN UNION
Many of Europe’s electric vehicle projects are supported by the European Union itself with the electromobility featuring in the Green Car Initiative that has been included in the European Economic Recovery Plan. Around €50million has been set aside by the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport for electric vehicles and related infrastructure.
UNITED KINGDOM
The UK first committed to electric vehicles in 2008 when then Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged £100million to support electric, hybrid and other green cars in an effort to make Britain “the European capital for electric cars”. He even went as far as to suggest that by 2020 all new cars sold in Britain could be electric or hybrids.
Trials of electric cars began in 2009 with councils encouraged to submit bids to become “green cities” – Glasgow, for example, has been awarded £1.8million to run electric car trials until 2011. London Mayor Boris Johnson also announced plans to introduce 25,000 electric car charging points across the capital by 2015 with an aim of bringing 100,000 electric vehicles to London’s streets. In November 2009, Andrew Adonis, the Secretary of State for Transport, announced a scheme called “Plugged-in Places” with £30million to be shared between three and six cities to investigate the viability of providing power supplies for electric vehicles (see article).
The UK has also made it clear that it wants to attract manufacturers to build electric cars in the country. Nissan’s Sunderland plant has been granted a £380million EU-backed loan to develop electric car technology and the UK will offer subsidies of up to £5,000 to electric car buyers from 2011 (see article).
IRELAND
The Department of Transport wants 10 per cent of all vehicles on Ireland’s roads to be electric by 2020 as part of the Electric Transport Plan. Agreements have already been reached with the Renault-Nissan Alliance to support electric vehicle infrastructure with Green Party Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan announcing a scheme to deploy 1,500 electric vehicle recharging stations along with 30 high voltage fast charging units.
Incentives to support the purchase of electric cars have also been announced – including a €5,000 capital grant.
DENMARK
The country introduced a number of electric vehicles on to its streets ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in 2009 – with much of the electricity used coming from the renewable energy of the country’s many windmills. It has also struck up a partnership with the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Better Place to further support electric vehicles and their charging infrastructure.
FINLAND
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen has outlined the need to see more electric cars on Finnish roads with the country firmly committed to electrification with a host of companies specialising in electric vehicles of various kinds including Oy AMC Motors, which produces small electric cars; Patria which focuses on military vehicles; and Elcat which has been producing electric vehicles since the 1980s.
Charging infrastructure is already in place across the country in a basic form as it is used for pre-warming during cold winters. The harsh temperatures in the country make it an ideal testing ground for the vehicles and a new three-phase charging method is being worked on that could allow electric vehicles to be recharged in as little as four minutes.
FRANCE
The country’s largest energy provider, EDF, is working with Toyota to develop charging stations throughout the country with Toyota also leasing around 100 plug-in vehicles through select partners. France has also committed to providing around $550million to subsidise the development and construction of carbon free vehicles.
In Renault, France can also boast that one of its own manufacturers is leading the way in electric vehicle implementation thanks to its numerous partnerships with governments and utilities around the world. The manufacturer has several electric vehicles due to reach the market in the next few years including the Twizy, Zoe and Fluence vehicles.
GERMANY
The country is aiming to put around one million vehicles on its streets by 2020 through its National Electric Mobility Plan. German greenhouse gas emissions have already fallen by 21 per cent compared to 1990 levels and the country is committed to a 40 per cent reduction by 2020 with electric vehicles at the heart of this goal.
German manufacturer Daimler has teamed up with utility RWE in a project called e-mobility Germany that launched a network of 500 electric car charging stations as part of a trial for electric vehicles in the country.
ICELAND
In Iceland, a group has formed called 2012 – New Beginning, which aims to turn all of the country’s vehicles electric by 2012.
POLAND
Charging infrastructure has been developed across Gdansk, Katowice, Krakow, Mielec and Warsaw with funds coming from the European Union.
PORTUGAL
A national plan has been created by the Portuguese government that will fund electric mobility.
Electric cars are free from circulation tax and taxes on acquisition price until 2012, while the first 5,000 electric cars sold in the country will benefit from a €5,000 incentive fund.
The government has also linked up with car makers Nissan and Renault to set up electric car charging points across Portugal with the aim of having 1,350 in place by the end of 2011 and 160,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2020.
SPAIN
Its aim is to have one million electric cars on its roads by 2014 with Madrid, Barcelona and Seville already working on electric car charging points.
A host of measures were introduced as part of a €235million five-year green transport scheme including reducing motorway speed limits and requiring government vehicles to run on at least 20 per cent biofuels.
OUR VERDICT
While Japanese, Chinese and American car makers may be leading the way with electric vehicle innovations, Europe has not been left behind in supporting their implementation and in establishing charging infrastructure.
What’s particularly encouraging for us here at TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk is that the UK has moved swiftly to establish charging points and has retained its incentives for buyers despite the recession. Clearly, electric cars will have a huge impact on Europe’s future and staying at the forefront of this technology is vital for any thriving economy.
Faye Sunderland
