Heavy-duty vehicles would not be affected by provisional EU duties on Chinese-made BEVs

Duties on Chinese EVs will affect battery-electric vehicles “designed for the transport of nine or less persons, including the driver“, says Olof Gill, Commission spokesperson for trade and agriculture, to Sustainable Bus.

EU Commission provisional duties on EVs

On 12th June, the Commission stated that “has provisionally concluded that the battery electric vehicles (BEV) value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidisation, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers”. Therefore, the European Commission has pre-disclosed “the level of provisional countervailing duties it would impose on imports of battery electric vehicles (‘BEVs’) from China. Should discussions with Chinese authorities not lead to an effective solution, these provisional countervailing duties would be introduced from 4 July by a guarantee (in the form to be decided by customs in each Member State)”.

But what about commercial vehicles and specifically e-buses? “The product investigated is new battery electric vehicles, principally designed for the transport of nine or less persons, including the driver, propelled solely by one or more electric motors, regardless of the number of wheels set in motion”, stated Olof Gill, Commission spokesperson for trade and agriculture. He points out that “Light commercial vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles, motorcycles, hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles are excluded from the scope of the investigation“.