The European Union approves the ban on the sale of combustion and/or hybrid vehicles from 2035, boosting the electric vehicle industry

It’s over. No combustion vehicle – whether gasoline, diesel, or even hybrid – will be able to be sold within the European Union from 2035. This was the decision taken by the European Parliament to put an end to the drain of CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions that these types of vehicles emit into the atmosphere every day and thus achieve the decarbonization objectives for transport and the economy that the European Union has set for 2050; when the old continent must be climate neutral. Thus, all light vehicles will have to be either electric or hydrogen-powered, which leaves a radius of action of three decades in which to prepare the industry, the electricity grid, consumers, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. A technological challenge that the EU has been preparing for years and which now has a deadline.

This decision, which focuses on the fact that 15% of all EU greenhouse gas emissions come from road transport, came after the rejection of an amendment to reduce transport decarbonisation targets and does not seem to surprise European vehicle manufacturers, who have been accumulating several years of announcements about the end of combustion vehicle production. Thus, the main brands have recently added 100% electric models to their offerings, in addition to announcing their collaboration in various projects to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.

Spain will mobilize more than 24 billion euros to promote the electric vehicle

One of the most important driving mechanisms for the electric vehicle, as well as one of the central axes of the Spanish economic and technological recovery, will be the so-called electric PERTE. These Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation aim to transfer a series of investments committed by the European Union to projects considered strategic in each member country. Thus, Spain will have a PERTE for the development of the electric and connected vehicle. As reported by the Spanish Government itself, the central axis of this plan is “the creation of the necessary ecosystem for the development and manufacture of electric and connected vehicles by promoting the automotive industry (with strong traction on other economic sectors), to respond to the new sustainable and connected mobility and the generation of new activities.”

A plan, approved last July 2021, in which, through public-private collaboration, the mobilization of more than 24,000 million euros is foreseen until 2023.

Europe needs to invest 280,000 million euros in charging infrastructure to put an end to the vehicle combustion

While the manufacture of electric vehicles is essential to ending the combustion vehicle and promoting electric mobility, the provision of a reliable charging network is even more so. An infrastructure for which, according to the latest report published by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), more than 280 billion euros will be required. Thus, the European Union must adopt a rate of installation of 14,000 public charging points per week compared to the current 2,000, until reaching the figure of 6,800,000 charging points installed by 2030. A figure that, according to the ACEA report, would help reduce 55% of CO2 emissions from European passenger cars.

This demand is considerably lower than the figure presented by the European Commission in the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR), which is currently being negotiated in the European Parliament and Council and is practically half of what was indicated by the ACEA. On the other hand, the study estimates that the annual costs of public charging infrastructure amount to 8 billion euros, around 16% of the investment in 5G networks and high-speed Internet.