Brussels,

Rewiring Europe’s Roads: The EU’s Bold Bid to Electrify the Auto Industry

The Commission’s blueprint puts Europe’s €1-trillion automotive powerhouse under pressure, calling also for the electrification of the continent’s 7.4 million heavy-duty trucks with a dense network of battery “pit-stops”. A plan that riles Berlin, since the 19-page document mentions hydrogen only twice but batteries some sixty times. Rail freight transport overlooked, even though it is clearly much cheaper and much more energy and emissions-reduction efficient.

The Commission’s plan faces multiple hurdles: massive capital needs for megawatt charging hubs and grid upgrades; battery weight and range limits that cut payloads; dependence on scarce raw materials; uneven state-aid capacity among Member States; uncertain resale values without a robust battery-health market; and a looming skills gap as combustion-engine jobs disappear. integrated rail/road/ports-waterways freight transport, with corresponding efficient intermodal terminals, championed by FERRMED, receives scant attention, leaving modal-shift potential untapped. The proposal itself is only a Communication, so no binding rules take effect for now; to date, the European Parliament has not decided whether it will draft an own-initiative report, although its Transport and Industry committees may still opt to do so in order to steer future directives and budget allocations.

By eEuropa

8 MINUTES READ

Brussels, 9 June 2025 - The European Commission’s new Industrial Action Plan for the Automotive Sector COM (2025) 95 lands at a moment of existential tension for the industry.

Cars and trucks still inject €1 trillion into EU GDP and support 13 million European jobs, yet they remain the single largest source of road-traffic emissions and now face a once-in-a-century technological upheaval. Last year one in five vehicles sold worldwide was already electric, signalling a tipping point where software, not sheet-metal, has become the industry’s chief differentiator. China and the United States have been sprinting ahead with generous subsidies for battery supply chains and large-scale autonomous-driving testbeds—though the U.S. momentum now hangs in the balance after President Trump’s latest tax-bill move to phase out federal EV incentives.

Brussels frames its plan as nothing less than “decisive action to keep Europe in the lead” on zero-emission, connected and automated mobility.

At its core, the Commission's Communication bundles five pillars that together try to square the competitiveness circle while honouring the Green Deal’s 2035 tail-pipe ban.

First, an Innovation & Digitalisation drive promises a dedicated platform for autonomous-vehicle rules and €1 billion of Horizon Europe money for cross-border test environments.

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