ACEA

European vehicle makers welcome policy coordination around e-mobility

San Sebastian, 09/02/2010 – The European automobile manufacturers welcome the initiative taken by the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union to discuss the opportunities as well as challenges offered by e-mobility during today’s informal Competitiveness Council in San Sebastian. EU ministers exchanged views with leaders and experts from across society, including the automobile industry.

Electric mobility will clearly play an important role in the future and there is room as well as need for coordinated policy support. At the same time it is important to maintain a broader approach to sustainable mobility. Conventional powertrain technologies with high-tech combustion engines as well as fuels will continue to play a dominant role for years to come and progress in this field must continue as well.

The automobile industry pleads for an ambitious as well as realistic framework to promote e-mobility. “The ecological benefits of emission-free mobility are obvious. And we are now at a point where, contrary to past experience, electric propulsion is finally becoming a viable alternative”, said ACEA President Dieter Zetsche (Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG), addressing EU ministers.

A winning effort to make e-mobility commercially and environmentally successful should be built on five main pillars:

• A sound, long-term and coordinated policy towards sustainable mobility
• Boosting customer acceptance and demand through market incentives as well as a widely available recharging infrastructure
• Global standards to recharge vehicles
• Support for further R&D
• Low-carbon energy production

Such a strategy will help secure EU-leadership in engineering and competence, with a potential positive impact on employment in the EU. Governments of USA, Japan and China already support new technologies intensively, and this poses a challenge to European vehicle makers in terms of their global competitiveness.

EU vehicle manufacturers are world-wide technology leaders in fuel efficiency and safety and they are determined to retain that position. The industry is transforming its product portfolio to include a broad range of electrically chargeable cars, trucks and buses, including plug-in hybrid, extended range electric (including fuel cells) and battery electric vehicles.

For electric mobility to take off and fulfil its potential, further significant and simultaneous investment is needed by multiple players. These must also all work closely together, including the automotive industry, the energy producers and providers, the research and development community as well as governments on various levels – from EU institutions to towns and city councils.

• Click here for the full presentation by Dieter Zetsche

About ACEA

The European automotive industry is key to the strength and competitiveness of the European economy. The ACEA members are BMW Group, DAF Trucks, Daimler, FIAT Group, Ford of Europe, General Motors Europe, Jaguar Land Rover, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge, Porsche, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault, Scania, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen and Volvo. They provide direct employment to more than 2.3 million people and indirectly support another 10 million jobs. Annually, ACEA members invest €20 billion in R&D, or 4% of turnover.

For further information, please contact Sigrid de Vries, Director Communications, ACEA +32 2 738 73 45 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Please also visit http://www.acea.be

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