electric cars

This weekend's European Parliament elections will strongly influence the EU agenda for almost the rest of the decade. In particular, the future fate of Green Deal is of great curiosity. After the frenetic green activity of the last five years, the political winds are turning and the appetite for tackling climate change is waning. Filip Křenek, Project Coordinator and Analyst at EUROPEUM Institute, comments on the situation for e15.

The essential components needed to grow the modern economy include chips and semiconductors, solar panels and batteries for electric cars. All of these are imported into Europe from Asian countries instead of manufacturing capacity being built here. Viktor Daňek, deputy director of EUROPEUM Institute, said it is necessary to open a debate on the reform of the common budget and new revenues.

The driving force of the electric car market is no longer Europe or the United States, but China. It is now trying to push its production into Europe, but the European current production infrastructure is not capable to face the challenge. While the debate about electric cars is mainly limited to environmental friendliness and price for consumers, the future of global competition is often neglected. This is what our researchers Vít Havelka and Michal Hrubý point out in a new analysis on electromobility. To safeguard its automotive industry, Europe needs to work on improving its battery production capacities, as well as its supply chains for primary raw materials, the experts say.

Based on the analysis of our researcher Michal Hruby on the supply of used cars, an article was written in Týdeník Ekonom. While new electric cars are becoming more and more expensive, this difference is decreasing significantly for used cars.

As part of the fight against climate change and its effects, EU countries have committed themselves to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. In addition to several other measures, the European Commission is also proposing that, from 2035, only non-carbon cars be sold in the EU. Electromobility and its impact on the automotive industry will be another topic of Café Evropa debates.