A European Commission-funded website breaks out electric, plug-in hybrid vehicle sales by model, and finds the news isn't great.
The European Commission's recently unveiled plan for cleaner fuels and lowered dependency on imported oil is counting on huge gains from natural gas and electric vehicles. While there are about one million natural gas-powered vehicles on European roads today, the number is expected to increase ten-fold by 2020. EVs are close behind, with millions expected to roll out during that same time period.
The electric vehicle charging-station standardization issue that's viewed as a major hurdle to mass EV adoption goes far beyond SAE vs. CHAdeMO, apparently. European nations are also divided about which standard the European Union should use in its effort to build out the infrastructure necessary to ease away-from-home charging of plug-in vehicles, Ward's Auto reports, citing auto industry analysts at a Brussels conference.
Believe it or not, catalysts were not mandatory in European gasoline-powered cars until 1988. The reason behind that was that the fuel consumption of European cars, noticeably lower than their American counterparts, was considered less of a harm. Then there is the EU (formerly EC) rule of making all decisions unanimously, which with France and Italy on one side and Germany on the other didn't make the process easy. We're seeing a rehash of this in the current discussion on CO2 limits. Compared t
While John McCain's idea of a gas tax holiday was a hit in the U.S. (well, it was a hit with him and Hillary Clinton, anyway), the European Commission is saying no in all sorts of languages to the possibility of the EU capping the value-added tax on fuel. Automotive News Europe reports that the EC shot down a proposal by French president Nicolas Sarkozy to cap the tax by saying any such move was the wrong response to high oil prices and would require unanimous agreement anyway. Sarkozy didn't sp
Less than two weeks after being proposed, the European Commission's plan to force Europe's car industry to reduce new car carbon dioxide emissions to 120 grams per kilometre / 2.6 ounces per mile, has been shelved by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Meant to be part of a wider climate change strategy for the European Union, the best way to achieve the proposed carbon dioxide reductions ended up being argued over by the commissioners and the European auto makers.