“It will be crucial to engage in electric mobility for the European automotive sector and for low-income households”

Tribune. The government’s proposal to ban the sale of the most polluting cars in 2030 is purely aesthetic. The question of the electrification of cars deserves better. It is a crucial issue of economic policy and social justice. France must define a trajectory that is ambitious for the climate, but socially sustainable.

The government must start by abandoning the emission threshold logic promoted in the Climate and Resilience Bill. It is powder in the eyes. In fact, the ban on the most polluting vehicles concerns a small share of the automotive market in 2030 (4%). The models concerned will, moreover, be transformed into plug-in hybrids and will escape the ban.

We now know that plug-in hybrids are problematic for the climate. Often very heavy, these vehicles emit much more CO2 on the road than the quantities indicated by laboratory tests. This measure is therefore inefficient from a climatic point of view, but also from an industrial point of view, because it encourages manufacturers to engage in a controversial technology.

Sales set to stagnate

The government must then make sure not to lose the decade of 2020. It will be crucial to engage in electric mobility at this time, for the European automotive sector, but also for low-income households.

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In fact, in 2030, low-income households will need access to inexpensive electric vehicles following the establishment of low-emission zones in large cities. It should be noted that the vast majority of low-income households buy their cars on the second-hand market (90%). But will the supply of electric vehicles be sufficient in this market in 2030?

European regulations will play a decisive role. If governments do not raise European CO standards2, sales of electric vehicles will stagnate during the 2020 decade. Consequently, the second-hand market in 2030 is likely to be saturated with heavy, polluting and therefore overtaxed SUVs. Low-income households will then turn to new low-cost electric vehicles, produced on other continents, to the detriment of the European automobile industry.

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It is to avoid this catastrophic scenario that it is now necessary to deploy European electric vehicles which will supply the second-hand market. This implies an ambitious national trajectory, consistent with raised European standards.

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