Debate: Binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States  - Land use, land use change and forestry  - COemission standards for cars and vans
Date: TUESDAY, 7 JUNE 2022
Speaker: Frans Timmermans
Language: EN

And until today, I still love cars and I love my motorbike. But I also know this love needs to change. I need to go from being a petrol head to becoming a battery head. And I can also say that the fun will not diminish, because the electric cars we see are fun to drive, they’re exciting to drive, they’re also clean, their technology is exciting to follow and Europe has finally stepped up to the plate. And Europe is now more and more capable to build cars that can compete with the American cars, with the Asian cars, even though Europe was very late coming to the party. And that is something we can reproach our car industry. Bit too much hubris, believing that we would make ever more efficient combustion-engine cars and that would save the day, and now we understand the world has moved on. And I don’t think that by prolonging the change to electric mobility, by leaving a loophole in the legislation so that not a complete ban on emission cars by 2035, but leaving there an opportunity to still build them is not helping the car industry at all. And it certainly is not helping the consumers. If you want our car industry to move faster, to produce affordable electric cars for everyone, you have to make sure they will concentrate everything they do on that. If you want, because then they say: ‘well, it’s not just about the car manufacturers, it’s about this whole ecosystem of suppliers that are part of that’. How are you going to help a supplier who supplies elements for combustion engines? By forcing them to continue to supply those elements in ever decreasing quantities, because that will be the reality. So what you will see, if you choose the so—called 90% option, you will slow down the decrease of prices and the technological development of electric cars. And you will force manufacturers to continue to produce ever-decreasing numbers of combustion engines that will become ever more expensive. That’s an economic logic. It’s a matter of scale. So who are you doing a favour here? No one. And just slowing down technological development is a bad choice. We see it in every industrial revolution. The longer you take to make a change that is inevitable, the more it will cost. It will cost them more money, it will cost more social pain, it will create an illusion. And you chain people to a past that has no future. This is not helping the European car industry at all. And I’m not even speaking about the absolute, absolute certainty that the fuel you think could power these clean combustion engine cars is so much more expensive per kilometre driven than electricity. Not just a bit more expensive. No, three, four, five, six times more expensive. If you at least also incorporate in your analysis our plans on rooftop solar, our plans on offshore wind, our plans on creating much, much more opportunity for renewable energy. So don’t deprive European citizens of the possibility to drive a clean, exciting, affordable electric car made in Europe. And they say, well, everything has to come from China. Nonsense. Look at what’s happening in our battery strategy, that’s moving fast forward. We’re becoming fast the first producers of batteries in the future. And these are sustainable batteries, recyclable batteries. Look at what we’re doing with solid state batteries, lighter batteries, batteries with more range. Look at the plans we have to create a charging infrastructure. This is all very exciting stuff. Don’t chain us to the past, for heaven’s sake. Don’t chain an industry to the past that needs clarity and not loopholes to do what it needs to do to provide affordable mobility to all Europeans. This is, I believe, an essential choice. And I implore you: do the right thing tomorrow. Don’t come with a wishy-washy solution that actually helps no one. It gives a bit of comfort – ‘yeah, we gave them a bit more time’ – but it’s not going to help them because then they will have to start building components for the new technology and then still building ever-decreasing numbers of components for the old technology, which will be so expensive. One problem that our battery alliance has is, can we get enough people to work in this industry? That’s our main challenge. So don’t tell me that so many jobs will be lost because of this transition. The jobs will change. Our responsibility is to make sure that the people are able to take these new jobs.  But there’s no need for anyone to be unemployed thanks to these new and exciting technologies. And since we are the best car-makers in the world, believe this petrol head, since we are the best car-makers in the world, our industry, if we embrace these opportunities, will dictate the future. Who knows in this room that Poland already today is the biggest producer of electric buses? Who knows that? That’s embracing a new technology, that’s embracing the future. That’s the reason why I believe you need to vote for our proposal tomorrow.