New analysis by E-Mobility Europe and Ember puts the potential oil import savings from meeting the EU's 2030 electric vehicle targets at 190 million barrels a year, equivalent to around €12 billion annually. The targets in question are 35 million battery electric vehicles, three million electric commercial vans and 200,000 electric trucks.
Corporate fleets lead EV uptake as costs near half
Europe's oil dependency carries a significant economic and strategic cost. Road transport accounts for two thirds of overall EU demand for oil products, making the switch from combustion to electric vehicles the fastest, most efficient and most scalable way to cut consumption. In 2025, battery electric vehicles registered in the EU displaced 57 million barrels of oil, preventing roughly €4 billion in European wealth from leaving the bloc. This year alone, one million newly registered EVs have already cut consumption by four million barrels.
Chris Heron, Secretary General of E-Mobility Europe: "Europe must decide: do we continue to relinquish our strategic autonomy to other regions, or will we act with laser focus to capture the full benefits of electric security? As a continent, we need to decide who we want to be, get back in the EV driving seat, and deliver long-term resilience."
Call for action
The report argues that Europe must build deeper resilience to establish genuine EV energy security without creating new dependencies. It sets out five priorities to be delivered in parallel:
1. Deploy – put more electric cars, vans and trucks on Europe's roads
2. Build – strengthen Europe's EV industrial base
3. Power – make electricity the affordable fuel of transport
4. Flex – turn EVs into energy assets
5. Protect – secure the digital backbone of mobility
From liability to asset – the new economics of fleet charging
The European Commission's forthcoming Electrification Action Plan should mark a milestone in a more focused EV resilience strategy, putting Europe back on an irreversible electrification path. (hcn)
