With MEPs setting a course towards a 60% reduction in CO2 vehicle emissions by 2050, could electric cars be just the ticket? EPTV hits the road to find out.

Reporter: The fast lane to a carbon-free future?

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/16291635/m003-0250-enx.srt

Will the 100% electric car  replace petrol or diesel vehicles?

The first vehicles on the road  aren't cheap and can cost 35,000 euros.

but the electric car  could become indispensable in future.

MEPs support the target of reducing CO2  emissions from transport by 60% by 2050.

They are focusing particularly  on clean and energy-efficient vehicles.

It addresses both the environmental  problems of emissions, obviously,

and the economic problems  linked to increased fossil fuel costs.

This solution is going to become  increasingly significant.

Can the electric car meet  our mobility and transport needs?

We will try and answer these questions.  Let's go.

We're driving on the motorway to  the new Louvre museum in Lens, France.

The electric car  is not usable for every use.

If you have a distance  to drive every day

it's probably not the car for you,  but it's not only for cities.

you have an autonomy of 150km  to recharge

and I think also distances of 300km  are possible without any problem.

No problems? I'm not so sure about that.

We've left the motorway  and my gauge is almost on empty.

In theory you just have to recharge  at a public charging station.

The problem is that there aren't many  in Belgium, or indeed in the EU.

In 2011, for example,  there were 27 in Poland,

A proposed EU directive intends  to increase the supply significantly by 2020.

Until then,  you should plan your journey.

Sadly that's not enough.  Our car stops after 80km.

The battery life  isn't particularly efficient.

Luckily we stopped in a car park  with a charging station

We're going to meet  the person in charge.

We would like to be  an electric-vehicle friendly region.

And so we hope, for next summer,  for 2014,

although we need to convince  our partners in Hainaut,

to have a network of 200 charging  stations in 12 to 14 months' time.

But not all the public authorities  are ready to take this step right now.

Here we are starting now again  with electric cars

Investigations have shown  that most charging will be done at home,

95% if you include  charging at the workplace.

Installing charging stations  on public roads

is the next phase  in the electric vehicle's development.

Installing fast charging stations  will reassure people

that they can drive longer distances  than their normal daily journeys.

The cost of a charging station  varies between 1,500 and 25,000 euros.

A battery needs eight hours  of slow charging to be fully charged,

as opposed to about 30 minutes  of fast charging.

Back on the road, we have  just 60km of our 140km left to go.

We have finally arrived  at our destination.

Unfortunately for us  it closed an hour ago.

We have spent over five hours today  charging our electric car's batteries.

We'll have to visit the museum  on another occasion.

To conclude,  the electric car is suited

to making short journeys,  both in town and in the country.

Users will need to charge it  mainly at home or at work

since the network  of public charging stations

is still in the initial stages  of development.