Fortum today published its latest Energy Review, “Driving to a cleaner future”, which focuses on electromobility. The publication was done in connection with the E-mobility Exposed talks event in Haltia, Espoo.
E-mobility is growing in the EU, and its progress in Europe is expected to keep up with the global pace. Fortum believes that the electrification of transport will take off rapidly.
“We at Fortum believe that e-mobility can deliver a whole range of benefits, from cleaner air and less pollution to better energy usage. Electric vehicles (EVs) also support the market for renewable energy sources (RES), with car batteries offering new opportunities for grid-connected storage and bringing prosumers into the electricity market,” notes Rami Syväri, Acting Head, Fortum Charge&Drive.
Fortum believes that further intra-regional harmonisation – the standardisation of plugs and sockets to overall system interoperability and the enabling of roaming – would support the uptake of electromobility in Europe. The overall objective should be to make EV charging easy. It is also highly important that EU charging be considered a commercial business activity and not a part of the regulated electricity infrastructure sector.
“Policy makers should ensure that post-2020 emission standards will further encourage the development and uptake of low-emitting vehicles. In the EU, the emissions trading system (ETS) set the cap for emissions, including those from electricity generation. Hence, moving emissions from the transport sector under the ETS would mean that EV emissions would not increase, regardless of the fuel and technology used for electricity generation,” states Monika Kuusela, Senior Manager, Public Affairs.