Over two billion for "made-in-EU" battery, Commission unveils car action plan

Brussels – Over two billion just for battery development and production in Europe, one billion for large-scale driverless autonomous vehicles, and then charging network-friendly legislation and incentives for useful job training in the production chain. The European Commission unveils the Car Action Plan, which confirms the commitments already made with European manufacturers in fines and flexibility on sustainability goals set out in the Green Deal. With a twist: the review of the regulation on CO2 emission standards will be brought forward from 2026 to the third and fourth quarters of this year.

The document finalised in Brussels revolves around the electric car, for which the EU executive is set to mobilise €1.8 billion from the innovation fund to support European manufacturers. Added to this are €350 million that Brussels wants to allocate to the automotive sector from the Horizon program for research.

In parallel, the EU wants to defend the European market from unfair competition practices. To this end, according to the action plan, the EU Commission will examine “the definition of specific rules of origin” for electric batteries imported into Europe. This is an anti-China measure, aimed at discouraging offshoring to other third countries such as India, Vietnam or Turkey and then selling in the EU. This is coupled with a commitment to involve the European Investment Bank (EIB) also to encourage private investment and support European automakers with even more resources.

Driverless vehicles, here’s a billion

The European Commission then decided to allocate one billion euros for autonomous driving technologies. The EU executive estimates that this can generate globally added value of up to €400 billion for the automotive sector by 2035. Brussels intends to create a single market for autonomous vehicles, through proposals for harmonised rules and equal testing for this type of vehicle.

In this regard, the EU executive intends to work with member states to rapidly establish at least three large-scale cross-border testbeds, related regulatory frameworks, and European autonomous driving corridors. These testbeds will enable large-scale pilot deployments of autonomous vehicles for passenger and freight transport. The Commission also commits to “further assess the potential for integrating automated vehicles into the transport system through vehicle-to-infrastructure communication.”

The Commission will propose harmonised admission approval procedures in early 2026 to facilitate all advanced driver assistance and automated driving systems tested on open roads throughout the EU.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (photo: John Thys/Afp)

Confirmed openings on fines and biofuels

Finally, the reassurances and guarantees given to the automotive industry on sanctions and legislative review are also included in the action plan for the car. The Commission will present the targeted amendment to prevent penalties from being triggered in 2025 for manufacturers selling few low- and zero-emission cars.

The proposed amendment to the CO2 regulation aims to make the checks (currently to be conducted annually) triennial, giving time until 2027 to sell what has not been sold so far and postpone the risk of fines.

Furthermore, in revising the rules banning the traditional internal combustion engine from 2035, the possibility of studying the option of synthetic fuels (e-fuels) dear to Germany is considered. Still, the door is not closed to bio-fuels, as Italy wants.”In the review we will give guidance on e-fuels, but we will also look at what other technologies can help achieve the 2035 climate neutrality goals,” says Sustainable Transport Commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas.

English version by the Translation Service of Withub