Some 50 representatives of European electricity companies, power distribution system operators and national electricity sector associations making up the Union of the Electricity Industry (EURELECTRIC) recently presented the European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Transport with their Declaration on Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles.
The declaration was presented at the EURELECTRIC launch event in Brussels and calls upon all stakeholders, transport and energy policymakers, companies in the relevant sectors and the official standards bodies to support and give impulse to the drive towards standardisation in this field.
“I applaud the initiative that the European electricity industry has taken and its commitment to drive forward the standardisation of infrastructure for charging up electric vehicles, a move which has the potential to significantly contribute to more environmentally sustainable transport in Europe. This will also help to put the EU at the forefront of transport technologies,” said European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Transport, as he welcomed
EURELECTRIC also specifically pledged to undertake and promote investment in infrastructure necessary to foster the development of all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Meanwhile, a EURELECTRIC Task Force on Electric Vehicles is working to identify the market hurdles slowing down the development of common infrastructure standards and to help overcome these obstacles.
Speaking on behalf of the signatories, Padraig McManus, Chief Executive of Irish energy group ESB and EURELECTRIC Board member, reminded participants that the transport sector, according to figures in the European Commission’s Second Strategic Energy Review, is today responsible for 23% of total EU carbon dioxide emissions. Electricity generated from low-carbon energy sources can “revolutionise the transport sector, making a real contribution towards reducing the carbon output of cars, also improving local air and reducing noise pollution,” Mr McManus underlined.
To achieve this aim, a cross-industry agreement on standards for both the hardware - the connector and cables - for re-charging plug-in vehicles and the communication software “is an indispensable step to facilitate broad market penetration and avoid problems with incompatibility, dead-ends and stranded investment,” Mr McManus explained, adding: “Setting standards for plug-in vehicle charging infrastructure will provide benefits to all stakeholders – the automotive industry, equipment manufacturers, electricity companies and above all the customer, who will thus enjoy real choice and genuine Europe-wide electric mobility.”
Acting now will allow Europe to become a front runner in the roll-out of mass-market electric vehicles, he stressed.
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