Automotive News Europe — 2023-10-02
Automotive Industry
The market share for EV in the EU exceeded 20% for the first time in August, making full-electric vehicles the No. 3-selling choice among new car buyers.
This rosy picture, however, is belied by a patchwork of accessibility issues as well as problems with affordability and inclusion.
If leaders across the UK and Europe are to meet their net-zero responsibilities, they must tackle these obstacles head-on. Diluting them, as UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has just done by pushing back the ban on the sale of combustion-powered vehicles to 2035, is clearly not the answer.
The transition to electric can only happen if it brings everyone – not just a cohort of rich millennial men – along for the ride.
There are three key pain points to overcome to broaden EV’s scope.
1. Improved affordability for new/young buyers.
Just like the property market, Europe’s EV sector needs to create more affordable offerings for entry-level buyers. Tesla recently did this, slashing prices in the EU by 10%.
Partly as a result, its Model Y emerged as Europe's best-selling EV in the first half of 2023, with sales far ahead of rivals. MG has also moved the needle. In 2022, the MG4 joined the UK market with a competitive price of about 27,000 pounds (about $32,780), sparking record demand.
Other stakeholders also have a part to play to overcome barriers. Smart charging provider Ohme is using grid availability to slash at-home running costs, while Faradion is working on a sodium-ion battery it claims will be cheaper and safer than lithium-ion alternatives.
Europe’s governments also need to recognize the continued importance of subsidies in widening EV access.With many Europeans struggling to afford EVs, such as Romania have led the way with attractive EV discounts. France is also planning a social leasing scheme, aimed at bringing poorer families into the EV market.
2. Better access for disabled drivers.
The EV market also must ramp up efforts to cater to 87 m Europeans who live with some form of disability.
UK charity Motability is making waves by working with brands such as Co Charger to enable shared private chargers for the estimated half of all disabled motorists expected to rely on Britain’s public charging network by 2035 (many of whom won’t have access to their own home chargers).
In Europe, the European Mobility Group is lobbying along similar lines – while specialist companies such as Sweden-based BraunAbility are engaged in finding pragmatic solutions to manufacturing issues (such as battery placement that, which can overlap with installing a wheelchair hoist in EV vehicles).
3. Narrowing the regional and member state divide.
This spring’s 35 m pound investment into London charging points is great for city-dwellers; but it also widens the UK’s rural infrastructure gap. The EU has an additional headache in the form of a massive disparity in charger distribution between member states – creating problems for reaching CO2-reduction targets for cars
Policymakers have a role to play here. The European Commission recently introduced AFIR, a new rule that requires EU member states to ensure their recharging infrastructure for cars and vans grows at the same pace as EV uptake.
This includes specific guidelines about the frequency of charging points along key roads. Similarly, Tesla recently secured 149 m euros in EU funding to expand its Supercharger network across 16 European countries.
Netherlands-based charging company Fastned is also attempting to narrow the divide. It recently signed a contract to build its first fast-charging station in Italy; one part of its goal to build a network of 1,000 stations across Europe.
While EV adoption continues at a rapid pace in both the U.K. and Europe, it’s up to the industry’s brightest minds to ensure an even spread. A successful, mass-scale switch of the kind enshrined in EU law means dissecting complex accessibility issues to ensure no one is left behind.