Source: European Parliament
The Commission wants to ensure that the EU remains a global leader in the automotive industry, preserving jobs and manufacturing capacity in Europe.
The Commission will develop an industrial action plan for the automotive industry, covering the entire value chain, from securing critical supply chains to ensuring affordability, from infrastructure for refuelling and recharging, to fully exploiting automation and data, while supporting the industry on its path towards decarbonisation.
Public support has been substantial in creating a nascent battery industry in Europe. In particular, the Commission approved two Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) for batteries[1], providing EUR 6 billion in funding; EUR 180 million have been allocated to the battery sector through the Innovation Fund[2], with an additional EUR 3 billion announced for the next three years; and the co-programmed battery European partnership under Horizon Europe[3], Batt4EU[4], is investing up to EUR 925 million in battery research and innovation activities.
The Commission remains committed to continuing this support to further strengthen the sector and ensure its future ability to compete with global players.
Regarding autonomous vehicles, the EU industry is at a good stage of technology development and the EU established a regulatory framework for the sale of autonomous vehicles[5], but such vehicles cannot easily access roads across Europe.
The Commission will continue to support funding for research and development, update the EU regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles and support Member States towards the update of their national road transport frameworks, to ensure the legality of automated driving and the possibility to deploy them at scale.
- [1] IPCEI on Batteries and IPCEI European Battery Innovation (EuBatIn): https://www.ipcei-batteries.eu/
- [2] https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/eu-funding-climate-action/innovation-fund_en
- [3] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32021R0695
- [4] https://bepassociation.eu/
- [5] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2022/1426/oj