On Thursday 12 May, DLR and LEVA-EU were invited to contribute to a Sustainability Talk of the European Commission’s DG Innovation and Research. The theme of the talk was: “Deeply transforming mobility systems and cities – The case of light electric vehicles” The hybrid event attracted more than 50 Commission officials from a variety of DGs.

On behalf of DLR, Mascha Brost presented the study*, commissioned by LEVA-EU, on the potential of LEVs in tackling climate change by reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG). Annick Roetynck outlined the European LEV framework and made the direct link to current policy. Among other things, she called for better LEV regulations. She argued: “To achieve increased uptake and use of LEVs to substitute the use of large, heavy vehicles, the EU must identify and remove legal bottlenecks hampering technological and market development of LEVs without any further delay. Furthermore, in policies developed at all levels of government, LEVs should be dealt with as a separate vehicle category, which requires its own specific rules.”

The relevance of LEVs in tackling climate was made even clearer by Anastasios Kentarchos, Advisor Climate Science and Innoviation at DG R&I. He responded to the LEV study from a climate science perspective, by linking to the recent IPCC report that states that the current pledges will not be sufficient to limit warming to 2°. “As a result, every solution counts”, Mr Kentarchos concluded.

Laure Ledoux, Head of Unit Greening, Safety & Buildings at DG HR, explained the Commission’s plans to be climate neutral by 2030 by reducing GHG emissions by 60%. One of the main focusses is mobility, more specifically commuting, for which the objective is to reduce GHG emissions by 45%. She announced a new mobility plan by the end of this year, which will hold incentives for all means of transport.

At the end of the meeting, Thomas Arnold, Adviser on Sustainable Development Goals at DG R&I formulated 3 main conclusions. Firstly, systemic changes are necessary to encourage climate change mitigation. Secondly, Commission officials should look into what support they can get from their employer to make their mobility more sustainable. Thirdly, the electrification of mobility is currently focused on heavy vehicles, while much lighter vehicles appear to be available. The effects of electrification in combination with a significant weight reduction needs to be further investigated.

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* The DLR LEV4Climate Study,  was commissioned by LEVA-EU and is supported by Fairlybike, Microlino,  Podbike  and  Superpedestrian. Further sponsoring of LEVA-EU’s efforts to raise awareness on the emission saving potential of Light Electric Vehicles is still welcome. Please contact Eddie Eccleston for futher details: eddie@leva-eu.com, tel. +32 472 32 9770.