Europe’s Big Bet on EVs and Hybrids

If you build it, they will come.

That’s the bet behind an ambitious plan to boost the number of electric vehicles and hybrids plying European roads by making electric charging stations nearly as common as gas stations.
The European Union wants to build a half million charging stations by 2020.
”We can finally stop the chicken and the egg discussion on whether infrastructure needs to be there before the large scale roll out of electric vehicles. With our proposed binding targets for charging points using a common plug, electric vehicles are set to hit the road in Europe,” the European commissioner for climate action Connie Hedegaard told the press on Thursday.
While electric vehicle charging stations are clearly the most ambitious part of the plan, the eight-billion-euro “Clean Power for Transport Package” also includes standards for developing hydrogen, biofuel and other natural gas networks.
“Developing innovative and alternative fuels is an obvious way to make Europe’s economy more resource efficient, to reduce our overdependence on oil and develop a transport industry which is ready to respond to the demands of the 21st century,” said European Commission Vice President Siim Kallas.