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Why ministers need to plug into electric vehicles

This interview with Casper Kirketerp-Møller, the CEO of Clever, is part of a series of interviews that FORESIGHT will publish ahead of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM9) and Nordic Clean Energy Week (NCEW), which will take place in Copenhagen and Malmo in May 2018.

Casper Kirketerp-Møller is on a mission to fight range anxiety among buyers of electric cars. In a conversation with FORESIGHT ahead of the Ninth Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM9) and Nordic Clean Energy Week (NCEW), the chairman of the board of the Danish Electric Vehicle Alliance and the CEO of Clever, the Danish company focused on making it easier to charge electric vehicles, explains why political leaders can and should do more to speed up the electrification of the world’s transport systems. _

Q:
What do you expect from the CEM9?_

A:
The agenda is very broad, covering everything from the production of energy to new innovations and ways to attract more investment in clean energy. I fear, therefore, that the meeting will end with merely good intentions and no concrete outcomes. The transport sector accounts for almost 25% of carbon dioxide emissions in the EU and given the urgent need to reduce emissions I would like ministers to work out some common solutions to accelerate the electrification of transport. This means that ministers will need to look beyond large production and distribution entities and focus on end consumers. Every day my company is on a quest to reduce friction for consumers and I urge politicians to join us in making users the centre of attention and improving their experience of driving an electric car.

Q:
Which concrete outcomes would you like to see for the transport sector?

A:
The electrification of transport won’t happen unless potential new car owners are confident that they can travel from one destination to another, across countries, without worrying about whether they will need to call road assistance because there is nowhere for them to charge their car. This is why transnational solutions are essential. At the moment those of us trying to build a new green cross-border transport system often run up against the might of a 100-year-old gasoline infrastructure. It can be a hassle to get permission to develop an electric charging site and the best ones are often already occupied by players selling traditional fuel. A decision by global, or at least EU, leaders to allow electric charging site developers to have access to the right sites along the main highways would significantly speed up the creation of new effective transnational infrastructure.

Q:
But can we have the same infrastructure everywhere? Don’t different cars have different plugs, for example?

A:
We don’t have to install exactly the same infrastructure everywhere, but we do need to make it more user friendly, and ministers at CEM9 could help by calling, for instance, for a common plug-standard worldwide for electric cars. We all know how annoying it is when we are travelling across borders and we realise that we have forgotten to pack the travel adaptor. The same thing goes for electric cars, the lack of international standards is a real challenge. _

Q:
Can electric vehicles conquer the world without this kind of political backing?_

A:
Whether or not we get new regulations, electric cars are here to stay, since they are superior to internal combustion engine cars. Manufacturers are experiencing production issues at the moment, but these teething problems will soon disappear. Clearly any kind of political signal to show that governments are turning their backs on the fossil fuel industry and are fully behind the electrification of vehicles, however, will boost investment, which will, in turn, speed up the installation of infrastructure enabling us to take full advantage of the new cars that manufacturers are getting ready to send to market.

Writer: Anna Hedegaard

This article is part of the Nordic Clean Energy Series
, published by FORESIGHT Climate & Energy to support Nordic Clean Energy Week. A week where energy leaders from around the globe gather in Copenhagen and Malmö to discuss the policies, business and technological solutions and challenges involved in tackling climate change.

Learn more about the week - Nordic Clean Energy Week

Take a look at FORESIGHTs Nordic Clean Energy Special Edition
published in May 2018.