The European Green Cars Initiative (EGCI) is one of the three Public Private Partnerships (PPP) launched by the European Economic Recovery Plan, which was announced by the President of the European Commission on the 26th of November 20081. The other PPP of the Recovery Plan are Energy Efficient Buildings and Factories of the Future. The automotive sector was selected with the building and manufacturing sectors because of the severe impact of the crisis on their activities, combined with high opportunities for green growth. The objective of the PPP EGCI is to support Research & Development on technologies and systems that are able to bring breakthroughs in the goal of Europe to achieve a green Road Transport System, safe and reliable, and using renewable energy sources. Apart from loans provided through the European Investment Bank, the PPP European Green Cars Initiative makes available on the period 2010-2013 a total of one billion EURO through R&D projects set up jointly by the European Commission, industry and research partners, and the EU Member States.

In 2010, the support for European research projects under the EGCI started with the first calls for proposals (with a total indicative EC budget of 108 Million EURO) published in July 2009. Thirty projects were selected for funding, with a focus on electrification of road transport, including research on electric vehicles, batteries, hybrid technologies, and integration of electric vehicles into smart electricity grids. In July 2010, a second round of calls was published, covering three major R&D pillars: research on electric and hybrid vehicles, research for heavy duty vehicles based on internal combustion engines, and research on logistics and co-modality. The deadline for submission of proposals to this second round of calls has been set to the 2d of December 2010. In addition to this funding of research projects, the European Investment Bank continues the implementation of the European Clean Transport Facility as a contribution to the European Green Cars Initiative. Until now, 8.2 Billion EURO of loans have been approved for the automotive sector under this scheme.
 

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