Last week, the European Commission released its Industrial Action Plan for the Automotive Sector, which aims at boosting the competitiveness of European car manufacturers, while at the same time accelerating transport decarbonisation as part of Europe’s green transition.
Finding solutions to these challenges is what underpinned the debate during Eurelectric’s 2025 edition of EVision, as it took place alongside the launch of the Commission’s new Action Plan. Furthermore, this latest iteration of EVision saw the official launch of Eurelectric’s and EY’s flagship report on the flexibility potential of electric vehicles (EVs).
Despite differences in opinions throughout the discussions, the vision became clear: electrification is by far the most competitive solution to decarbonising road transport. But in order to accelerate electrification, Europe will need all segments of this pivotal ecosystem to collaborate.
Flexibility via Smart Charging: an untapped advantage
Simple smart charging and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies were hailed as potential game-changing solutions, not only because of their advantages for improved grid management, but also the increased consumer savings that can be achieved from their wide-spread adoption. Simple smart charging means charging at times when the cost to the user, the power grid and the planet are lowest via the charging platform’s algorithm, whereas V2G can also enable the bidirectional energy flow between EVs and the grid. The latter can effectively turn EVs into decentralised storage assets that help balance renewable energy supply and grid demand.
One of the EVision panellists, Renault’s Raluca Balan, spoke about a newly launched project in the Dutch city of Utrecht, where 500 bidirectional EVs contributed to 10% of the city’s grid flexibility. Indeed, smart and bidirectional charging will be key to making EVs integrated within Europe’s evolving power system.
However, some barriers in scaling such solutions persist. For instance, “most vehicles lack bidirectional capabilities within the car itself, said Transport & Environment’s Lucien Mathieu, who called for bidirectional charging to become mandatory for automakers by 2030.
Beyond the hardware, incentivising EV flexibility also requires engaged consumers. EV owners can provide flexibility services to their local grid by opting for time-of-use tariffs. Yet, Head of Markets at EY Ireland Megan Conway admitted that only 10% of consumers use such tariffs, underscoring a need for improving accessibility. “Make it easy, and consumers will follow,” Christina Bu, Norway’s EV Association Secretary General, urged.
Getting the grid on board
“The grid is the biggest worry,” CEO of Scania and Chair of the Commercial Vehicle Board at ACEA Christian Levin warned, noting that charging a single e-truck depot could require 750 MWh— roughly equivalent to powering 600 homes for a day.
Leonhard Birnbaum, President of Eurelectric and CEO at E.ON, noted:
“Connection requests for truck charging stations now exceed 1 GW, enough to power a small city, and permitting is causing delays of up to eight years.”
Concerns over grid constraints were also echoed by Christina Bu, who although celebrated Norway’s 60% surge in fast chargers (built largely via private investment) warned that distribution system operators need time to adapt the electricity infrastructure to this new reality.
Addressing such hurdles is possible. Getting the grid up to speed to meet the high projected power demand from the growth in electric vehicles, and particularly heavy-duty vehicles, will require investing in grid expansion through anticipatory investments while optimising existing grid capacity.
E-mobility is not just about cars
Passenger EVs tend to get most of the attention when it comes to transport electrification, but e-mobility is not just about cars. It is also about larger vehicles like trucks or buses, which are often not owned by private citizens, but instead by commercial or public entities.
Indeed, commercial vehicles are a critical, yet often overlooked, component of transport decarbonisation as they represent nearly 60% of all newly registered vehicles in Europe. A key part of this market segment is heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs), which account for over 50% of Europe’s road transport CO2 emissions, despite representing less than 10% of the fleet, a statistic observed by MAN Truck & Bus’ Benedikt Nesselhauf during one of the panel talks.
At the end of the day, the business case ultimately hinges on total cost of ownership (TCO), where the competitor showing the lowest TCO winning. In Europe, the TCO of an electric truck is still higher than fossil fuelled alternatives, confirms Scania CEO Christian Levin. Meanwhile, buses represent an early success story, with e-buses “a decade ahead” of trucks thanks to municipal subsidies, as pointed out by Axel Volkery, Deputy Head of Unit Sustainable and Intelligent Transport at DG MOVE.
Steffen Schaefer of AFRY stressed that decarbonising logistics is already showing positive returns, particularly for fleets with predictable routes. In Norway, the frontrunner for EV adoption in Europe, 96% of passenger cars are already electric, but only 8% of the heavy-duty fleet is currently electrified.
Thus, the conversations at EVision remained optimistic keeping in mind that there is still work to be done among industry stakeholders and regulators to tackle certain challenges. With the potential benefits from EVs for flexibility, the path ahead is even more clear- transport decarbonisation via electrification. And with global competitors accelerating, Europe’s success will hinge upon translating dialogue into action, and fast.