How to Accelerate EV Adoption and Strengthen Europe’s Competitiveness

Out of the 1600 million light vehicles (passenger cars and light commercial vehicles) on the road in the world, there are today less than 100 million EVs (battery electric vehicles) of which less than 10 million in Europe. In 2025 EV manufacturing has risen to 15 million in the world (out of a total of 90 million), of which million in the EU 17% market share), but the sales of EVs in Europe have not grown as fast as envisaged. The USA have stopped promoting EVs. The profitability of manufacturers has been seriously impacted, prices remain high, customers are hesitant, charging stations have been deployed unevenly in Europe. Also, the sustainability of the minerals necessary for the production of the batteries and the electric motors is not proven. Battery production is starting in Europe with difficulty. China controls about ¾ of the supply chain of batteries and Chinese manufacturers are dominating the EV production. The global lifecycle emission level of EVs is not zero: it varies widely according to vehicle size and sourcing and according to production method of the electricity used to charge the cars. In this roundtable some of the key actors in Europe of battery, cars, charging stations and electricity production will discuss how they tackle these issues and what they expect from the EU in order to improve the competitiveness of EVs and reduce their global CO2 footprint.