Judith’s speech in plenaire - Main contents

Technology neutral Let me first compliment the Commission. The Commission has chosen a technology neutral approach which leaves room for any type of vehicle to be developed as long as it complies with the CO2 emission standards. I fully support the Commission in this view that energy efficiency in cars should be regulated through ambitious legislation on CO2 emission levels. No technology must be chosen, it has to chose itself. Late standardization (and only charging interfaces) It is the standard in Parliament to hand out compliments. I love this habit, but, with your permission, I´ll save my compliments for another time. The Commission is very late in giving a mandate for the standardization of charging interfaces, and has shown hesitation to discuss standards for batteries. The standards will only be available by 2012, probably only to be operable in 2013. May I urge the Commission to advance this process as much as possible, since electric vehicles are being built as we speak, already to be introduced next year? Important issue is to involve the whole industry in the standardisation debate, including smaller and medium enterprises. Smart meters No mention of smart meters in cars. Smart metering is a necessity in order to manage the electricity flow and mobility and in order to make it possible to tax energy, which might prove to be an essential tool in the management of mobility. Scarce resources In the Commission communication raw materials are mentioned, but only with a view on production and industry in the EU. Whereas it is important to realise that there is an end to certain resources, which should be reflected in the policy. Scarcity might impediment production altogether. Example, recent studies show that in order to produce 500.000 electric vehicles (already to be expected in 2015), 2% of the global availability of lithium is used. I call upon the Commission to step up its efforts to find substitutes for these scarce materials.