The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) has sounded the alarm on the outcome of yesterday evening’s European Parliament vote on future CO2 targets for cars and vans.
“We are very concerned by the direction taken by the Environment Committee,” stated ACEA Secretary General, Erik Jonnaert. “The extremely stringent reduction levels adopted are totally unrealistic, as they would require a massive and sudden shift to electromobility. The framework conditions for such a seismic shift are clearly not in place, and consumers are just not ready to go fully electric at this stage.”
Jonnaert: “Let me be clear: we are fully committed to moving towards zero-emissions mobility. But this transition must be made at a pace that is manageable. This is vital not only for our industry and its workers, but also for consumers – who are meant to actually buy these vehicles – and for member states, who will have a huge job to ensure that the network of recharging infrastructure is sufficient.”
The position by the Environment Committee – the lead committee on this dossier – is not representative of the whole European Parliament. It contrasts quite strongly with the positions of the other committees involved (ITRE and TRAN).
“We hope that the European Parliament will take the opportunity to re-examine this proposal to align it more with reality. We await the plenary vote next month to see what course the Parliament as a whole will take for the trialogue negotiations,” stated Mr Jonnaert.
