France wants to end electric vehicles made in China

The next big controversy in the EV sector promises to come from France. Yesterday, the government of Emmanuel Macron submitted to the Council of Ministers a bill on reform financial assistance provided for the purchase of new electric vehiclesto prevent the marketing of products manufactured outside of Europe.

Simply put, the goal is to create a mechanism to facilitate the sale of 100% European-made electric vehicles. It will mainly consist of Exclude Asian Vehicles from Government Assistanceor brands that import them from that region (eg Tesla).

This measure has already been criticized for its protectionist nature. However, they assure the French government that it is expected to respond to the “triple challenge of sovereignty, stability and prosperity.” Bruno Le MaireThe French Minister of Economy, Finance, Industrial and Digital Sovereignty explained that under the new law, it will not be enough for electric vehicles to produce no emissions or have a certain price to access assistance. What is meant to be analyzed from now on is its entire ecological footprint.

“We will follow production-related emission criteria, such as the carbon footprint of the steel used or the use of recycled and biomaterials. Thus, the proposed measure is intended to exclude from car bonuses cars whose production has low environmental performance. “.

Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy, Finance, Industrial and Digital Sovereignty of France.

France wants to prevent the purchase of Chinese electric cars or Tesla electric cars

Before moving on, it is important to understand how government assistance for buying electric vehicles works in France. these cars are eligible for a loan of 5,000 eurosif its price does not exceed 47,000 euros and its weight does not exceed 2,400 kg.

But Macron’s new government bill aims to reserve aid only for cars with a low carbon footprint. Thus, they intend to exclude those that are made from materials that are not considered sustainable, that come from countries where energy production is highly dependent on coal, or that have to be imported from remote locations and whose transportation leads to large emissions.

The legislation appears to be tailor-made to curb Chinese automakers’ push into the European market.. However, this could also affect electric vehicles from other countries such as Japan and the US. The list of brands and models that will be excluded from state support has not yet been disclosed, but it will include, basically, all those that are produced outside of Europe.

“We are going to support batteries and cars made in Europe because their carbon footprint is good. We are not going to use French taxpayer money to develop non-European industries,” the French President recently said, although he denied that this was a protectionist measure.

Le Maire went into more detail about where the new bill is heading. “These measures will result in a bonus reservation for vehicles made in Europe. I remind you that electric vehicles produced on our continent emit an average of 45% less emissions than vehicles produced outside of Europe. In addition, we are not going to finance the development of factories in Asia at the expense of public funds,” he said.

It will be interesting to hear what Elon Musk has to say about this. Let’s not forget that while Tesla already has a Gigafactory in Berlin where the Model Y is made, many of the cars it sells in Europe are originally from Shanghai.

Stop the Asian offensive into the European market

That electric vehicles from Asian brands, especially Chinese ones, have taken the European market by storm is not news. Something that is not only observed in France, where you want to limit the use of state aid to increase sales of cars made in Europe.

In Spain, for example, MG4, owned by British firm MG Motor but a subsidiary of Chinese automaker SAIC Motor, was the most-registered electric vehicle last April. While Dacia Springwhich is imported from China, was in sixth place on the list.

In fact, the case of the Dacia Spring is quite interesting as it is the best selling 100% electric city car in France. Although it may be excluded from government aid because it is produced in Asia, Renault came out to defend the score. To the point where they claimed that this model represented a tiny part of the automaker’s efforts in the electric vehicle sector.

Other pieces of legislation have already made a lot of noise. For example, if all European car factories can meet the emission criteria that France intends to introduce. In Germany, to quote one case, they would already be looking at this proposal out of the corner of their eye.

The bill also declares battery factories to be of “greater national interest.”. In this sense, Le Maire assured that the state will take measures to facilitate its installation in France. To do this, for example, procedures for connecting to the electricity grid, building permits and local urban plans will be accelerated.

As for when the law can be adopted and enter into force, it is not entirely clear yet. The intention is that the new state aid only for European electric vehicles will start to apply until the end of the year. Although it would not be strange if they were applied only from 2024.