Brussels Has a ‘New’ EV Plan That Sounds Like the Old EV Plan

The European Union has had issues with its climate cult-driven Green energy transition and decarbonization goal, aka NetZero.

From watching their energiewende leaders in Germany… 

🇺🇸🇩🇪🇨🇳 How Germany deindustrializes and saves the world from CO2.

No matter if you believe in climate change or not, that graph just makes it obvious that Germany it’s not making a difference, but still pushes itself to the economic collapse.🤣🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/FhumR21Lg5

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) December 26, 2024

…get dunkelflauted into a crippling, damn near irreversible deindustrialization slide…

Industrial depression in Germany 🇩🇪

In the last 5 years, industrial production in Germany has fallen by 13.4%, more than in any other major economy in the world. In the energy-intensive sectors, the decline was 18.2%. Germany’s business model is collapsing from the ground up.… pic.twitter.com/K8unCl6xXX

— Brunella C. (@BrunellaCapitan) February 27, 2025

…In the last 5 years, industrial production in Germany has fallen by 13.4%, more than in any other major economy in the world. In the energy-intensive sectors, the decline was 18.2%. Germany’s business model is collapsing from the ground up. Economic strength was based on Russian gas, the constantly growing demand from China, and the influx of workers from Central and Eastern Europe. Everything is lost! (No2Nato)

…and the automobile manufacturing sector across the continent and the UK was devastated by artificially imposed goals with ruinous penalties…

European Auto Manufacturing Confronting An ‘Existential’ Crisis

Well…huh?

I wonder why?

Mandates and Green dreams still can’t change what people want and are willing to pay for, it seems.

European automotive suppliers are experiencing unprecedented turbulence as electric vehicle market uncertainties trigger a wave of dramatic workforce reductions. Major manufacturers are confronting a perfect storm of economic challenges that threaten the industry’s traditional foundations.

In a stark illustration of the sector’s volatility Robert Bosch, ZF Friedrichshafen, Continental and Schaeffler have collectively announced 54,000 job cuts in 2024. This figure represents a record number of redundancies surpassing those announced during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 combined according to the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA).

…the Brussels Brahmins were determined to cleave to ever more stringent and draconian measures to banish the carbons.

EU Chief Ursula von der Leyen: “If we want to keep global warming below the tipping point of 1.5°C, we need to cut global emissions. And there is a way to cut emissions while fostering innovation and growth. Put a price on carbon.”

“It is a market-driven instrument and the… pic.twitter.com/qUqjTDsj17

— Camus (@newstart_2024) January 5, 2025

…”It is a market-driven instrument and the message is very clear. You’re polluting, you must pay a price. You want to avoid the payment? Well, then innovate and decarbonize. Carbon pricing nudges the private sector towards innovation.”  

“It makes heavy polluters pay a fair price and the revenues can be re-invested in the fight against climate change, in innovation and in a just transition.”

Get over it, the Disney witch who runs the EU says dismissively.

INNOVATE AND DECARBONIZE

Just like she does when she waves her magic wand in the simulation she lives in.

It all works perfectly.

As the corporations begging for mercy kept petitioning those in power, Ursula Von der Leyen and her toadies refused to concede that it didn’t work like that in business.

They’d made all the magic electric vehicles required – what they didn’t have were customers who wanted them so they could meet the EU’s rosy sales quotas and thereby avoid humongous fines for not selling them and transitioning Europe to all-electric. 

Please, auto-makers begged the EU commissioners – you have to do something about these fines before they are the ruin of us all.

Classically, in late January, the EU announced a ‘Clean Industrial Deal’ that did nothing to relieve the NetZero/no customers burden firms like Volkswagen were facing.

…This is great at a press conference, but when you read into it, they haven’t changed a thing of substance and are relying on slogans to act as if everything’s copasetic now.

…Von der Leyen stressed that the commission would maintain its targets to cut net greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent by 2030, and have them at zero by 2050.

“We stay the course. The goals are cast in stone,” she said. “The goals stay, the objective stays, but we want to reach it better and faster. And for that, we have to reduce complexity.”

According to the EC, there were three core areas for action: Technological innovation, decarbonisation with the upcoming Clean Industrial Deal and focusing on affordable energy and security.

…Businesses have struggling with high energy costs and low investments, a product, according to many, of misguided green policies.

To address this, the EC promised to trim down many of its environmental, social and governance inspired regulations.

…Instead of targeting entire industries with emission directives, the EC said it would prioritise the 100 most emitting sites accounting for more then half of Europe’s industrial emissions.

Low carbon products, such as “green steel”, would still be supported, it added, despite little success in that sector so far.

Automakers were, like, YGTBFKM.

This was not at all satisfactory, and auto manufacturing and selling corporations on an international scale let the EU know in a united howl of protest and warning.

So the brilliant Brussels Brahmins with bupkiss business brains went back to the drawing board and came up with what seemed like a swell compromise to boost sales of the EVs no one wanted to begin with. These clever, oh-so-original strategies should be gangbusters as far as success in moving vehicles goes.

NOT

…The Commission’s automotive action plan is designed to aid EU car manufacturers in electrifying their fleets and maintaining competitiveness with more advanced Chinese and US counterparts.

The draft proposal outlines potential actions for the 27 EU member states to expedite EV adoption, especially in company car fleets, which represent around 60% of new car sales in the bloc.

…It suggests exempting zero-emission heavy vehicles from road charges, addressing concerns such as the decline in sales of new EVs.

According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), EV sales in EU dropped by 5.9% in 2024 due to inadequate charging infrastructure and the cessation of subsidies in Germany, alongside a scarcity of affordable EV options.

The Commission is also considering financial support for battery production, including foreign companies that collaborate with EU firms to share expertise and technology.

Proposals are being developed to set conditions for inbound foreign investments in the automotive sector and provide funding for battery recycling facilities.

The EU is going to resume ‘incentives’  (read: subsidies) for buying EVs on a country-by-country basis, require local battery production and subsidize that (including foreign owners if they work with EU firms), and maybe give EV owners a break on their road charges.

Innovative and bold.

They should work wonders, no?

None of these ‘fixes’ got the car manufacturers out of this year’s massive penalty hole – for example, a struggling VW is looking at about $1.6B in fines right now – which is forecast to be made worse by the uncertainty of tariffs from the US. So, once again, the automotive industry raised hell.

…EU carmakers, facing potential US tariffs and factory shutdowns, have appealed to the Commission for exemption from fines that could reach €15bn if they fail to meet 2025 CO2 emission limits.

While the draft doesn’t specify financial relief measures, Italian auto lobby group ANFIA has called for more decisive action, such as cancelling the planned fines.

As of yesterday morning, it was apparent someone at EU headquarters had a sudden reality check and blinked. In a move that infuriated the Greta Thunberg wing of the hippie co-op, the announcement of a compromise move offering a temporary respite to manufacturers was made after a second meeting with the desperate sector heads..

In point of fact, it was an urgently needed lifeline – a stay of execution in some cases. Von der Leyen broke the argle-bargle out.

Whatever that was she said caused a collective sigh of relief to rise, and Von der Leyen says she’ll be meeting with the group a third time this summer.

Her proposal still has to be approved by the Parliament and the European Council, so manufacturers are not completely out of the woods yet.

And those Trump tariffs haven’t had a chance to sting yet, either.

Might be a really interesting meeting come summertime.

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