Electric Vehicle Production to Increase in EU Europe is leading the way in the global embrace of the technology.

If your business relies heavily on petrol for any part of its income, it's time to start thinking about what comes next. There's a big push in Europe for electric vehicles, and for good reason.

For example, Ford recently announced that it plans to bring three new passenger electric vehicles and four new commercial electric vehicles to Europe by 2024. By 2026, the automotive company said, it wants to sell more than 600,000 EVs in the region every year, with a goal of having all sales in Europe zero-emission by 2035. To that end, the automaker will produce an electric crossover in Germany next year.

Electric vehicles are increasingly becoming big money-makers, but they cost money, too. The investment in Ford's production in Germany — which should hit 1.2 million vehicles across a span of six years — will total about $2 billion. The production and embrace of EVs is inevitable and will impact small businesses in numerous ways. You might want to think about investing in a few charging stations for your car park.

Ford isn't the only manufacturer ramping up production and investment in the European Union and the government is on-board. Last July, the European Commission proposed a 55 percent cut in CO2 emissions from vehicles by 2030 compared to the 2021 levels. By 2035, the emissions should be cut by 100 percent, the commision said. Auto dealers take note: That will effectively make it impossible to sell any new fossil fuel-powered vehicles in the region. (The European car industry association, ACEA, pushed back on the propositions, saying banning certain technologies is not a good way forward.)

Brussels has also proposed legislation that would require countries to erect public charging stations no farther than 60 kilometres apart on major roadways by 2025. By 2030, that should mean there are 3.5 million public charging areas. By 2030, that number should hit 16.3 million. Since March of last year, any new building in Flanders has had to create or at least lay the groundwork for inclusion of EV charging stations.

Europe is leading the way in the global embrace of the technology, producing 25 percent of the world's EVs from 2010 to 2020. The region is a net importer, having manufactured 2.6 million and sold 3.2 million in that time, and outpaced the United States.

Cars aren't the only electric vehicles getting support in the area, either. Last fall, Blockchain startup Beyond Protocol partnered with the European Union Commission on an eBike charging station outside of Slovenia's Parliament in addition to its work with Stripe on building charging stations for cars throughout the country.