Zero-Emissions Vehicles

The transport sector is crucial to the achievement of net zero emissions in both the U.S. and Germany. In the U.S., emissions from the transport sector are the greatest source of CO2 emissions overall accounting for 37% of emissions in 2022, in Germany emissions from the transport sector accounted for 19.6% in 2022. Decarbonizing the road transport by increasing the number of zero-emissions vehicles is an important step towards lower emissions in the transport sector overall. The Biden administration has made significant funding available for the required changes to the transportation system in both the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act and aims for 50% of light vehicle sales to be for battery electric in 2030 and 30% in the case of medium and heavy duty vehicles and buses. Meanwhile, Germany seeks to become a lead market for electromobility and aims to have at least 15 million electric vehicles on its roads by 2030.

Given the centrality of the transport sector to wider decarbonisation efforts and the joint interest in this topic by the U.S. and Germany, the partnership has a dedicated zero-emissions vehicles working group. Focus topics of the collaboration are the development of strategies, roadmaps, life-cycle analyses, and technical standards, technology collaboration, exchange on the interplay of EVs, charging infrastructure and grid integration (V2G) as well as discussions on the social dimension of structural change in the automotive industry. Additionally, solutions for heavy-duty vehicles and long haul trucking as well as supply chains and critical minerals are on the agenda.