The leading automotive, energy, and electro-technical industry associations have called with one voice for a cooperation between industry and policy, and for uniform European standards for EV components. The joint position is yet another major step to put Germany to the forefront of electric mobility.

In the joint position paper issued on 14 July, the German Energy and Water Industry Association BDEW, the German Association of the Automotive Industry VDA, and the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association ZVEI have called on public authorities involved in implementing the electric mobility strategy to coordinate their activities with industry at an early stage. A resulting industry-policy platform could involve associations and companies from the automotive industry, the energy supply sector, the chemicals industry, the electro-technical industry, as well as battery manufacturers. A centre to coordinate all discussions and outcomes, as well as the appointment of a high-ranking official with sole responsibility for electric mobility would be urgently needed. At present, four German federal ministries are involved in activities to support battery research, create an appropriate infrastructure, and provide enough incentives for a rapid market uptake of EVs. A better coordination with industry is expected to further speed up the implementation process.

The statement is the latest step in Germany’s effort to ensure technology leadership in the highly promising market of electric mobility. It recognises the great potential of electric vehicles as a means to reduce energy dependence, to support the use of renewable energies, and to silence strong voices calling for more efforts from industry in the ongoing climate debate

Uniform components standards needed

VDA, BDEW, and ZVEI realise that electric mobility is a shared responsibility of all participating industries, scientific institutes, and government agencies. A key to success would be a new drive system as appealing and easy to use as possible. To this end, a “number of political, regulatory, technological, and infrastructure prerequisites have to be in place before there can be a widespread introduction of electric vehicles”, the paper argues.

More importantly, all components required for electric driving would need to be standardised. Comprehensive standards and norms, at least Europe-wide but if possible at a global scale, would have to be created to ensure the vehicles can be easily connected to the power network in order to recharge the energy storage system, and allow for a controlled charging of vehicle batteries. Intensive preparations are already underway in Germany to create the required communication, control, and billing system so that there will be little need to expand the distribution network (especially for low voltage) and increase the number of power plants.

Germany needs to “hurry up”

The call for a strong support from policy and for a governmental “eco auto czar” responsible for electric vehicles, comes right before the German Government is expected to pass the “National Development Strategy for Electric Mobility” on 5 August. Last week, German chancellor Angela Merkel had warned that Germany would “need to hurry up” to not be outdistanced by Asian manufacturers and US competition.