Opinion | On EV targets, Europe should take a page from China’s playbook
To avoid dilemmas associated with grandiose, fixed-date bans, the European Union can embrace China’s approach and pursue an inclusive green agenda
From the policy’s adoption in early 2023, fractures appeared. Under pressure from industrial states such as Germany, exemptions for e-fuels were granted. Europe’s recent retreat stems from a collision between climate idealism and a triad of challenges: ensuring social equity, operating under an infrastructural deficit and navigating political disunity.
For ordinary Europeans, the transition poses costs such as high electric vehicle (EV) prices, unreliable charging networks and range anxiety. Behind these social challenges lay an infrastructural chasm: a fragmented, underprepared charging ecosystem and a grid ill-suited for mass electrification. Politically, the bloc was split between manufacturing states defending “technology neutrality” and greener nations insisting on pure electrification, resulting in a messy, diluted compromise.
This created a flexible, market-driven push for electrification without immediate corporate cliff edges. Crucially, the state prioritised building the enabling ecosystem in tandem with promoting EVs. A massive, nationally coordinated roll-out of charging infrastructure, now boasting several million public charging points, enabled mass adoption. Consumer subsidies, while being gradually phased out, initially lowered purchase barriers.
