A smart industrial policy to fast-charge Europe’s electric vehicles revolution

(EurActiv, 25 Apr 2024) Is decarbonisation compatible with industrial competitiveness? As the European elections approach fast, it will be one of the guiding questions of the upcoming EU institutional cycle.

Julia Poliscanova is Senior Director for Vehicles and Emobility Supply Chains at the green NGO Transport & Environment. Simone Tagliapietra is a senior fellow at the thinktank Bruegel.

This question is also at the core of the reflections on the future of Europe’s economic competitiveness being undertaken by Former Italian Prime Minister and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who recently said in his speech at La Hulpe: “We rightly have an ambitious climate agenda in Europe and hard targets for electric vehicles. But in a world where our rivals control many of the resources we need, such an agenda has to be combined with a plan to secure our supply chain – from critical minerals to batteries to charging infrastructure.”

We fully agree with this call for a strong industrial policy in the automotive sector: one in four electric cars sold across the continent this year are expected to be built in China. Without further action this will continue to increase undermining the industrial and social fabric of Europe’s automotive heartlands in Germany and France, as well as Central Europe. 

Europe is also scrambling to capture the valuable battery value chain amidst tough global competition. Faced with China’s strong state support and technology supremacy in the East and hefty subsidies from the United States in the West, a lot of Europe’s nascent companies are struggling to scale. 

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EurActiv, 25 Apr 2024: A smart industrial policy to fast-charge Europe’s electric vehicles revolution