30 Sep 19
News

EU grants ALD €250m for clean vehicle transition

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted €250 million to ALD Automotive, to accelerate the lease company’s clean vehicle transition. The credit envelope will enable the purchase of a total of 15,000 hybrid and electric vehicles for ALD’s EU markets – in particular in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. 

The financial partnership was announced by the EIB - the 'bank of the EU', owned by the member states - and ALD this morning (pictured: EIB and ALD executives at the signing in Paris). It is part of the Cleaner Transport Facility (CTF) programme, launched by the EIB and the European Commission in December 2016.

The bigger picture is the European Union’s CO2 emissions reduction target, aimed at tackling climate change. Those reductions require the gradual replacement internal-combustion powertrains for private vehicles by electric or hybrid ones by 2050. 

“(This partnership) will enable us to speed up our transition to low-emission transport across Europe and actively implement the EU’s programme to promote jobs and growth,” said Violeta Bulc, European Commissioner for Mobility and Transport. 

For ALD, which has ambitions to be a key player in the so-called ‘energy transition’ wherever it operates, the financial partnership “will help to strengthen our sustainable mobility strategy and, in particular, to encourage the gradual adoption of our low-emission vehicles,” said Gilles Momper, Chief Financial Officer at ALD. 

ALD’s green fleet is growing fast: 118,000 vehicles at the end of June 2019, with the ambition to hit the 200,000-unit milestone by the end of 2020. 
 

Authored by: Frank Jacobs