Commission proposes new targets for electric vehicles

Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas says he is introducing targets for the number of charging points that EU countries must install, to boost the use of electric cars.

Presenting his Clean Power for Transport package on 24 January 2013, he pointed out that 94% of all European transport was reliant on oil, the majority of which is imported.

He said that electric car charging points will have to feature the same plug format, introducing a European standard.

In the UK there are currently around 703 charging points, although plans could see this increased to over 120,000 by 2020.

Commissioner Kallas has estimated the cost of building green infrastructure of transport at €10bn until 2020, compared with the the EU’s €1bn a day cost of importing oil.

However he said that “member states will be able to implement these changes without necessarily involving public spending”, pointing to the potential use of EU funding.

Other measures contained in the package include greater use of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the shipping sector and greater use of biofuels.