EV uptake is ‘critical litmus test’ for Europe’s energy transition

Eurelectric's Kristian Ruby urges a ‘European way’ to tackle mass uptake of electric vehicles

Enabling a mass uptake of electric vehicles is “one of the critical litmus tests” for the energy transition in Europe, according to Kristian Ruby, secretary-general of electricity association Eurelectric.

And he has demanded an inclusive approach to solving the problem that he dubbed “the European way”.

“Let’s not do it the Chinese command-and-control way or the winner-takes-all US way. Let’s create a vibrant market around the customer. Let’s make it work with infrastructure, data and interoperability. This is about people’s everyday lives. It’s on us to solve. Let’s do it; let’s do it right; and let’s do it the European way.”

Ruby was speaking at Eurelectric’s EVision conference in Brussels, which presented a where-are-we now picture of emobility in Europe and delivered a where-we-want-to-go blueprint for the future.

Listen now: Podcast with Kristian Ruby

The current state-of-play picture was upbeat: Eurelectric says electric vehicle sales in Europe are “booming” and it expects EV to overtake traditional vehicles by 2030.

A new report by Eurelectric and consultancy EY highlights this strong growth but warns that maintaining – and increasing – momentum depends greatly on “a more interconnected ecosystem where data can be freely exchanged among emobility players to ensure strategic infrastructure planning, cost savings, flexibility and improved charging”.

Ruby said: “To accelerate EV uptake in Europe, all players across the value chain need to work together with open, interoperable and secure data to create a smooth, seamless experience for the customer.”

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Also vital for the customer – certainly in the mind of the customer themselves – is the initial cost of an EV. Serge Colle, Global Energy & Resources Leader at EY, said: “The reality is that cars just need to be cheaper. If we want the electric vehicle transition to go faster, then it must be better and cheaper for the customer.”

But – and it’s a big ‘but’ – Colle highlighted that according to EY data of predicted battery electric vehicle sales between now and 2030, only 17% will come with a under-30,000-euros price tag, which is classed as the so-called ‘economy’ vehicles.

The call for cheaper EVs was pushed by Georges Gilkinet, Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister and the country’s Minister for Mobility, but this provoked an immediate backlash from the next speaker at the conference, Renault chief executive Luca De Meo.

He said expecting carmakers to initiate a sudden drop in prices was “an illusion only policymakers have. They talk about reducing and reducing. We are not a charty. You have to accept that you have to factor in profitability [for the carmakers].”

De Meo said it that the cost involved around lithium in an electric vehicle was more than the cost of the whole power train in a traditional vehicle.

He also highlighted the huge energy costs around EV production: to make an electric vehicle uses five times the energy which that car will use in its first year.

And that electricity needs to be ‘green’, he stressed. “We have to build gigafactories. We will become a high-electricity user.

"We have to get more decarbonised energy [into the production process] otherwise we are going to have a handicap.”

Originally published on powerengineeringint.com