A major effort of public intervention to pump-prime European demand for electric vehicles has been given broad approval by an informal meeting of the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers.
It backed a paper tabled by the Spanish government, which currently holds the European Union’s (EU) six-month rotating presidency. It called on European governments and EU institutions to actively promote electric cars.
“Intervention by public authorities can help promote battery-powered vehicles by lowering their costs [through] taxation and purchase incentives combined with lower electricity prices when compared to fuel…”, said the paper.
It also hinted at creating road networks off limits to standard combustion vehicles (the “establishment of low emission zones”) and granting free parking spaces to electric vehicles, waiving road tolls and giving them dedicated highway lanes.
Spain’s strategy will now be debated formally by a Council of Ministers for transport later this year. The aim is to approve a common strategy by May.