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    Europe sells 10 times more electric cars today than it did just six years ago, according to the International Energy Agency, but its fleet is cleaning up too slowly to meet its climate goals.

    Governments across the continent are struggling with the price-tag of electric vehicles, which can cost several thousand euros more upfront than comparable ones that burn fossil fuels.

    The EU’s move to cleaner cars is part of its promise to cut planet-heating pollution 65% from 1990 levels by the end of the decade, and hit net zero by 2045.

    Because most alternatives to cars took time and money to build, the full switch to electric vehicles was “the most critical issue” for reducing emissions in the next decade, he said.

    “It’s not sustainable to put out subsidies as high as we did in the past,” said Hochfeld, “and it’s also not socially fair because everyone in Germany – every taxpayer – pays for this transition, even if they don’t have a car.”

    To boost uptake of electric cars, the quantity of different policies mattered as well as the quality, said Gracia Brückmann, an energy researcher at the University of Berne.


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