EU will NOT impose car quotas on nations & manufacturers
THE European Commission will not impose quotas for electric cars on nations and manufacturers, despite reports suggesting they would.
EU could impose quota for building electric cars
The UK Government recently revealed that they would be banning the sales of all petrol and diesel cars in the UK by 2040, in a shock new move to tackle pollution.
Car manufacturers have since stated their intentions to push towards electrification with Volvo and Maserati both revealing that from 2019 all cars produced with contain an electric motor of some sort, be it an electric car or hybrid.
By 2030, Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW want electric and hybrid cars to account for between 15 and 25 per cent of overall sales, as they look to take on Tesla.
Tesla also want to produce 10,000 Model 3s a week by 2018 as they look to bring electric cars to the mass markets.
Reports in the media had suggested that the European Commissions would look to introduce a quota that would require manufacturers and nations to increase the percentage of electric vehicles on the road.
The EU Commission wants to promote low-emission cars and encourage motorists and nations to make the switch, but is not planning a binding quota for cars with electric drive.
"There have never been any plans to introduce a quota for electric cars," said a spokeswoman for the Brussels authorities on Monday.
She responded to a report by the Handelsblatt newspaper which suggested that car manufacturers would need to produce a certain quota of low-emissions vehicles.
The starting point for the reporting is a passage from an EU Commission paper from the end of May.
There have never been any plans to introduce a quota for electric cars
The authorities were already working on a reform of the standards for CO2 emissions from cars, which will be applicable after 2020/2021.
It adds: "One of the tested options is also a specific target for low emission and/or emission free cars."
The current targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions for cars are valid until the year 2021.
The spokeswoman argued that the goals were not to be confused with binding quotas.
Gove: Councils will receive funding to get diesel off the road
"The EU Commission is examining ways to promote low-carbon, low-emission energy in the transport sector," she said.
A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Transport said on Monday in Berlin that there was no proposal for a quota from Brussels and they didn't know about one, therefore they could also not comment on it.
He said electric cars are undoubtedly part of the future.
"Whether they are the only future, we cannot predict."
Fuel cell cars powered by hydrogen or combustion engines with CO2-neutral synthetic fuels were also possible.
Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg