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EU Proposes 70 Percent Local Content Threshold for Electric Vehicles
The European Commission introduced the Industrial Accelerator Act requiring 70 percent European-made components for electric vehicles in public procurement. Suppliers and manufacturers disagree on the methodology while facing competition from China.
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The European Commission proposed the Industrial Accelerator Act, which sets a 70 percent local-content threshold for electric vehicles to qualify for public procurement and support schemes, Euronews reported. The proposal is under discussion by EU member states and the European Parliament.
It aims to favor vehicles built mostly with European components amid competition from China that threatens hundreds of thousands of jobs in the EU car industry.
The European Association of Automotive Suppliers supports the 70 percent threshold. A Roland Berger study commissioned by the group found that plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles made in Europe already contain between 80 percent and 90 percent European-made components.
The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association advocates assessing finished vehicles rather than component-level content.
In a position paper published on 1 July 2026, the group stated that a vehicle’s value includes R&D, advanced engineering and skilled workforce in addition to parts. CLEPA said the manufacturers’ methodology would require only 50 percent EU-made parts and components, with the remaining 20 percent attributed to R&D, design and other activities.
The group warned that this approach could result in the loss of 350,000 jobs.
CLEPA Secretary General Benjamin Krieger said the 70 percent threshold is needed to counter competition from China. He added that a threshold ignoring where parts are built would ignore the European worker.
