Calls for electric cars to get a boost

Industry and campaigners want common standards as Commission launches plan for clean vehicles.

Car firms and environmental campaigners are calling on European regulators to speed up work on common technical standards for electric cars. 

The calls come at a point when Antonio Tajani, the European commissioner for industry, has just launched an action plan aimed at accelerating the development of clean and energy-efficient cars, lorries and motorbikes. Tajani said that the Commission wanted common standards so electric cars can be charged anywhere in the EU.

Marianne Wier of Better Place, a company that provides electric cars and charging points, said: “We really need some action from the EU now to guide us to ensure that our infrastructure and system can be used by everyone.”

“There will be 20 OEM [original equipment manufacturers] introducing 24 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid models by 2012,” she said, adding that “the infrastructure should be ready before the electric vehicles arrive”.

This already seems unlikely, with the prospect that industry decisions could overtake standard-setting bodies.

Companies want standards for plugs, sockets, connectors, in-car software systems and batteries, and for data communication systems that allows the car to ‘communicate’ with the charging spot. Carmakers also want standards on re-charging points and billing systems to ensure that drivers can recharge their car in any country and do not have to register their billing details with multiple authorities.

Nicholas Hodac of General Motors, the company behind the Opel Ampera electric car, said there was a sense of urgency within the industry about getting common standards. But he warned that the rush by governments to build national networks of charging points risked fragmenting Europe’s single market.

“The real problem we have is that a lot of hype has been created around electric vehicles and a lot of member states want to take the lead,” Hodac said.

“The recharging infrastructure has moved more rapidly than the roll-out of the vehicles and there has been no co-ordination between the member states…To a certain degree some of these policies [on charging points] have come into action too quickly.”

The Commission shares this view, highlighting “a lack of a European framework for electric mobility” in Tajani’s action plan.

International agencies

The European Commission yesterday (28 April) adopted a mandate to help the EU negotiate the large number of international standardisation agencies. These agencies include the standard setters in the European Economic Area: the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC). There are also global bodies, such as the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The mandate requires CEN and CENELEC to develop common standards on charging points by 2011. But the unpublished mandate warns that the IEC, which is responsible for international standards for electronics, “will not reach a single and harmonised approach”, citing the fact that three different kinds of plugs are being considered. The industry has been divided over plugs, with some favouring traditional household plugs and others looking for a new model.

According to Nuša Urbancic at Transport and Environment, failure to move quickly on standards would create “environmental risks” as well as “investment risks”. She said the Commission should promote “smart managed charging” to ensure that electric cars take the greenest electricity from the grid – for example, tapping into wind energy when the wind is blowing. It is “very positive” that smart-charging was considered in the Tajani communication, she said, but a strategy for smart metering was also needed.

In-car smart meters would give consumers information about the electricity powering their car (whether it came from renewables or coal). This would help the consumer to manage demand and regulators to set any future taxes, Urbancic suggested.

The Commission’s enterprise department forecasts that battery-powered electric vehicles will have a 1%- 2% share of the market for new vehicles in 2020, rising to 11%-30% in 2030.

European industry ministers will discuss the Commission’s action plan on 27 May.