Will weakening the EU's CO2 standards undermine Vehicle-to-Grid?

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The Commission proposed to change the EU’s CO₂ standards, doing away with the ban on the internal combustion engine and introducing a number of flexibilities for car manufacturers. But for the car and fossil fuel industry, these proposals do not go far enough. More drastic changes are demanded. Based on T&E analysis, carmakers’ EU demands would cut sales of Battery Electric Vehicles in half.

What has remained under the radar in discussions on weakened CO₂ standards is the impact on other sectors, notably the electricity sector. Further decarbonising the electricity sector will require accelerating renewables deployment and upgrading grids. But a growing share of renewables requires clean flexibility to be developed in lockstep.

In 2024, T&E commissioned a 'Batteries on Wheels' report . The report by Fraunhofer ISI demonstrated how a rapid electrification of road transport can help to integrate more renewables and generate savings in grid expansion costs.

In 2026, we asked from Fraunhofer ISI to rerun same analysis. But this time, the car industry's wishlist to weaken the car CO₂ standards was used as input for the modelling.

The findings of this updated analysis are presented during the webinar. We ask the European Commission to respond to the findings in view of its forthcoming Electrification Action Plan. Industry stakeholders will also be asked to comment on the results.

Read the results of the analysis in the report available here.