A new EU law to electrify the vehicle fleets of large companies could deliver 57% of the electric vehicle (EV) sales that carmakers need in 2030, new T&E research finds. While carmakers claim there is insufficient EV demand to meet their 2030 EU CO2 targets, T&E’s analysis shows that an ambitious company cars law would deliver 2 million new EV sales. But that’s only if the proposed fleet electrification targets are increased. If the European Commission proposal is left as it is, EU car manufacturers would secure only 37% of the electric sales needed to meet their EU CO2 targets .
The EU proposal sets only a 45% target, on average, for member states to electrify new cars registered by large companies [2], which T&E said would fail to realise the demand-driving potential of the law. T&E analysed the impact of increasing this target to 69% and excluding plug-in hybrids, in line with the medium ambition scenario of the EU’s own Impact Assessment[3]. The T&E analysis finds all EU carmakers would see a significant share of their EV sales secured, with BMW (72%), Volkswagen (61%) and Volvo (59%) seeing the biggest gains.
Targets proposed by the EU Commission mean business as usual
Large companies should be clearly leading the EV market, T&E said, but under the Commission’s proposed targets, they would be asked to electrify faster than the overall car market in just six countries (Germany, Italy, Austria, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands). In Germany, the EV registrations of large companies would only be five percentage points above where the EV market is already expected to be. In the remaining 21 member states, companies would lag behind or merely match the overall EV market. Unless amended, the Commission proposal will embed the fleet sector’s laggard status in the fleets law, T&E said.
