Europe faces up to China's EV dominance as carbon-zero targets loom
As Xi travels through EU this week, automakers weigh whether to fight or team up with cheaper Chinese rivals.
Ensuring a Fair Green Transition
“Humanity has opened the gates of hell”, stated UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the Climate Ambition Summit in September 2023, emphasising that we are currently on a path of global warming above 2.4°C or even 2.9°C.
The South versus the West?
In 2023, forums that amplify the voice of the “Global South” have proliferated and grown louder. As contradictory and divided as they may be, these forums (BRICS+, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), G20, the Group of 77, the European Silk Road Summit…) attest to the emergence of new power relations, and especially new directions in foreign policy, with states rejecting alignment with the dominant powers of the past in favor of putting their own interests first. A new world is taking shape, with changeable, still uncertain, contours.
Green Batteries: a Competitive Advantage for Europe’s Electric Vehicle Value Chain?
Aligning its climate and industrial policies, the European Union (UE) is introducing sustainability requirements for the whole life-cycle of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. This initiative would not only ensure that EVs fit with Europe’s climate-neutrality and resource-efficiency pledges, but also give European new entrants a better chance to compete.
The Recycling of Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Strategic Pillar for the European Battery Alliance
Although it is still marginal, the market for electric vehicles (EVs) is growing. According to the French Institute of Petroleum and Renewable Energies (IFPEN, Institut Français du Pétrole et des Énergies Renouvelables), EVs accounted for a little more than 2% of the light vehicle market in 2019. This was up by 54% compared to 2018, but EVs still only represent 0.8% of the global car fleet. That said, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates EVs could make up between 15% and 30% of vehicle sales in 2030.
The EU Battery Alliance. Can Europe Avoid Technological Dependence?
With the launch of its “battery alliance”, the European Union is finally taking up the industrial battle with Asia and hopes to meet a large share of the surging demand for electrical batteries. Yet, the clock is ticking and the future of battery manufacturing in Europe depends primarily on the strategies that automakers will adopt.
E-mobility: European Energy and Transport Policies at Crossroads
European clean transport policy envisages the development of charging infrastructures for electric vehicles within a European e-mobility framework. After the downturns of the Volkswagen scandal and the prevailing low European carbon price, the EU is bringing forward car passenger transport electrification. This requires new business models based on interoperability.
How can Batteries support the EU Electricity Network?
Policy Report, Publication Insight_E
Lead Author: Bo Normark (KIC InnoEnergy), co-author: Aurélie Faure-Schuyer (Ifri),
Reviewers: Paul Deane (UCL) and Steve Pye (UCL)
Renewables in Transport: Directive 2009/28/EC - Devils in its Details
This Actuelle precedes a longer and more exhaustive paper on Electric Vehicles, under the title "The Electric Vehicle in the Climate Change Race: Tortoise, Hare or both?" by Maïté de Boncourt.
As part of the 3*20 targets reached in December 2008, the EC decided that the EU should, by 2020, source 20% of its Final Energy Consumption (FEC) renewably.
The Electric Vehicle in the Climate Change Race: Tortoise, Hare or Both?
Europe is seeking ways to decrease the growing negative impact of passenger cars on climate, currently responsible for up to 12% of total EU CO2 emissions. After biofuels in the nineties and hydrogen in 2000, the new answer to climate change appears to be electric. But contrary to many marketing messages, electric cars are not zero emissions cars. They will not necessarily contribute to actual CO2 emission reductions before 2020 and even then, not in every country.
Ensuring a Fair Green Transition
“Humanity has opened the gates of hell”, stated UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the Climate Ambition Summit in September 2023, emphasising that we are currently on a path of global warming above 2.4°C or even 2.9°C.
The EU Battery Alliance. Can Europe Avoid Technological Dependence?
With the launch of its “battery alliance”, the European Union is finally taking up the industrial battle with Asia and hopes to meet a large share of the surging demand for electrical batteries. Yet, the clock is ticking and the future of battery manufacturing in Europe depends primarily on the strategies that automakers will adopt.
E-mobility: European Energy and Transport Policies at Crossroads
European clean transport policy envisages the development of charging infrastructures for electric vehicles within a European e-mobility framework. After the downturns of the Volkswagen scandal and the prevailing low European carbon price, the EU is bringing forward car passenger transport electrification. This requires new business models based on interoperability.
Renewables in Transport: Directive 2009/28/EC - Devils in its Details
This Actuelle precedes a longer and more exhaustive paper on Electric Vehicles, under the title "The Electric Vehicle in the Climate Change Race: Tortoise, Hare or both?" by Maïté de Boncourt.
As part of the 3*20 targets reached in December 2008, the EC decided that the EU should, by 2020, source 20% of its Final Energy Consumption (FEC) renewably.
The Electric Vehicle in the Climate Change Race: Tortoise, Hare or Both?
Europe is seeking ways to decrease the growing negative impact of passenger cars on climate, currently responsible for up to 12% of total EU CO2 emissions. After biofuels in the nineties and hydrogen in 2000, the new answer to climate change appears to be electric. But contrary to many marketing messages, electric cars are not zero emissions cars. They will not necessarily contribute to actual CO2 emission reductions before 2020 and even then, not in every country.
Will We Drive Electric on Asian Batteries?
The development of the electric car market, supported by public funding, needs to be monitored closely. Currently, except for Renault benefiting from its electric partnership with Nissan, batteries for electric vehicles will most likely be outsourced. A lot of joint ventures are being signed with Asian battery companies and automotive suppliers. As a consequence, some argue that there is no rational to develop further and fund the European battery industry: batteries are already made more cheaply elsewhere.
Electric Cars: the Orient and the Occident
China is looking ahead and thinking electric. The Chinese government recently announced the release of $15 billion in a “Manhattan-style” venture to support electric vehicle (EV) research, standardization and development as part of its five-year plan and to meet its seemingly unattainable objective of introducing 500 000 “clean” vehicles per year by 2011.
Europe faces up to China's EV dominance as carbon-zero targets loom
As Xi travels through EU this week, automakers weigh whether to fight or team up with cheaper Chinese rivals.
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