Jennifer is a journalist and editor based in France and serves as the copy chief for the 9to5 family of sites, including 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, and Electrek. She has worked as an editor and reporter for Wired, Fast Company, and Agence France-Presse. Message Jennifer on Twitter (@JMossalgue) or at jennifer@9to5mac.com.
The European Union has put its stamp of approval on a reworked law yesterday banning all new sales of ICE vehicles from 2035. Meanwhile, the European Commission has also proposed new targets to cut CO2 emissions from city buses and trucks from 2030 and onward. Here’s the latest.
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France has received the green light from the European Commission to start cracking down on ultra-polluting short-haul flights within the country, starting with a ban on three popular flights from Paris-Orly Airport. The country also aims to curb the use of private jets in an effort to both reduce CO2 emissions and keep up the social media backlash against the super-rich jet set in a time of soaring inflation and energy cutbacks.
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Paris is considering an all-out ban on the insanely popular rental electric scooters in the coming weeks, with backers of the plan saying that they clog up the streets and sidewalks, freak out pedestrians, and aren’t even that green due to their “very short life.”
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In France, solar just got a huge boost from new legislation approved through the Senate this week that will require all parking lots with spaces for at least 80 vehicles – both existing and new – to be covered by solar panels.
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What’s good for America isn’t necessarily good for your friends across the pond – at least that is the central message to an urgent call to action from the EU this week against what it sees as “discriminatory” tax credits and incentives against European and Asian carmakers in the groundbreaking new Inflation Reduction Act.
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While Tesla has been rolling out its global network of 30,000 fast chargers for years, Renault has announced its own plan to build a network of 200 EV ultra-fast-charging stations across Europe, kicking off first in its native France.
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Installation of all 80 offshore wind turbines off the west coast of France has been completed, with France’s first offshore wind farm scheduled to be up and running by the end of the year. The Saint Nazaire site will produce enough power to cover 20% of total electricity consumption of the Loire-Atlantic, or around 700,000 people.
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Renault is shining a light on its brand-new all-electric compact Megane E-Tech, which boasted the best EV sales in France last month, with 25,000 vehicles sold in the last three months. That tallies up to a 100K/year run rate – could it outrun Telsa’s Model 3 this year?
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It’s official: Yesterday the European Parliament voted to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, with the sales of new ICE vehicles to be illegal from 2035. Since most auto manufacturers are planning to go all-electric by this deadline, the new policy feels like too little, too late, and way too much compromise.
While life may soon start to feel a little less sweet for EV owners in Norway, the country is eyeing its next strategic move toward an even greener future, and that means fewer private cars (even electric varieties) clogging the roads in favor of walking, cycling, and taking the bus.
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Last week, French company Renault announced its plan to fully review spinning off its electric car business into a separate company in 2023, in hopes of catching up with rivals Tesla and Volkswagen.
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Today, Volvo Group, Daimler Truck, and Volkswagen’s AG heavy-truck business the Traton Group announced the official signing of a joint venture to install and operate a high-performance public charging network for electric, heavy-duty, long-haul trucks and buses across Europe.
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It’s been a rough week for one of Europe’s best-selling electric cars, the zippy little Zoe, which failed Euro NCAP’s latest round of grueling vehicle safety tests with a grand total of zero stars out of five, a huge blow to a vehicle that previously boasted five-star ratings in earlier models. Is it the end of the road for the beloved Zoe?
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Yesterday US Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off the government’s new plan to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the country with a ceremony at an EV charging facility in suburban Maryland, followed by an odd, bumbling demo where she appears to be using an L2 charging station for the first time.
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