PPP European Green Cars Initiative

The European Green Cars Initiative is one of the three Public Private Partnerships (PPP) of the European Economic Recovery Plan announced by the President of the European Commission on the 26th of November 2008. The objective of the initiative is to support R&D on technologies and infrastructures that are essential for achieving breakthroughs in the use of renewable and non-polluting energy sources, safety and traffic fluidity. Despite its name the Green Cars Initiative is not only for passenger cars. Under the Green Cars Initiative, the topics include research on trucks, internal combustion engines, bio-methane use, and logistics. However a main focus is on the electrification of mobility and road transport. Beyond providing loans through the European Investment Bank, the PPP European Green Cars Initiative is making available a total of one billion EUR for R&D through joint funding programmes of the European Commission, the industry and the member states. These financial support measures will be supplemented by demand-side measures, involving regulatory action by Member States and the EU, such as the reduction of car registration taxes on low CO2 cars to stimulate car purchase by citizens.

For a rapid implementation of the PPP European Green Cars Initiative, the instruments of the 7th Framework Programme were chosen, and an Ad-Hoc Industrial Advisory Group was established as a high-level forum for a strategic dialogue between the European Commission and the involved industrial sectors. Due to the horizontal character of the topic, various services of the European Commission work tightly together in this PPP: DG Research, DG Information Society and Media, DG Transport and Energy, DG Environment and DG Enterprise. The industry is represented by select members the European Technology Platforms European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC), European Technology Platform on Smart Systems Integration, SmartGrids and other stakeholders. The Ad-Hoc Industrial Advisory Group is chaired by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Steiger from Volkswagen. 

A first round of calls for the European Green Cars Initiative with a total budget of 108 Mio Euro was launched in July 2009. The second round of calls are scheduled to open on 31 Juli 2010. The deadline for submission of proposals is expected in late Nov/ early Dec 2010. Interlinks with member states' programmes shall be created.