Pop-Car: Join a groundbreaking urban mobility initiative aiming to kickstart BEV sales and reindustrialize Europe

In this article, I’d like to recap the story so far and invite you to participate in the initiative. (Spoiler: We’re particularly keen to find partners to co-fund the development of a platform simulation using ecodesign and circular economy tools and then a prototype Pop-Car. But we need all sorts of other participants, too.)

Where has the Pop-Car concept come from?

Pop-Car is the brainchild of Movin’On, an international, business-led co-innovation ecosystem committed to sustainable mobility. Specifically, Pop-Car has come from a Movin’On community of interest in sustainable mobility. (This is one of two Capgemini-led communities; the other one focuses on the closely related topic of software.)

I’m proud to chair this community, which contains representatives from different industries: automotive, of course, but also insurance and banking, and even an NGO. We have a strong focus on tangible actions. To find out what we’ve achieved already, read on.

Why it’s time for the Pop-Car?

We developed the concept of Pop-Car to overcome the impasse in which the industry finds itself following the tightening up of the standards associated with Europe’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulation.

From 2020, Regulation (EU) 2019/631 set EU fleet-wide targets of 95g CO₂/km for the average emissions of new passenger cars and 147g CO₂/km for those of vans, based on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) mission test procedure. But soon there will be new targets based on the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP). For cars, the revised target will be 93.6g CO₂/km for 2025-2029 and 49.5g CO₂/km for 2030-2034. These new targets represent reductions of 15% and 55% respectively compared with the 2021 emissions levels. Hence the regulation will affect a growing proportion of BEVs.

Unfortunately, demand for BEVs is already stagnating, confronting OEMs with various unappealing options. For example, they could reduce sales of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to achieve the desired result – a suicidal move at the moment, in my view. They could buy carbon credits from greener competitors – which would be counterproductive except in the very short term. Or they could sell imported products in the EU under a local banner.

We’ve devised a better alternative: one that will enable the industry to sell more BEVs in the EU – hence enabling reindustrialization in Europe. The key, we realized, is to create a category of simple, affordable BEVs that (unlike existing electric microcars) comply with safety standards for cars, and qualify for eco incentives such as the French ecological bonus.

Thus the Pop-Car concept was born.

Our two-step roadmap

• By 2028, we want to establish a category of EVs that weigh less than 850 kg with a carbon footprint of 6 tonnes CO₂ equivalent. Capgemini Engineering has already demonstrated that this is feasible.
• By 2035 (perhaps as early as 2033), we want to progress to a category under 750 kg with a carbon footprint of 4 tonnes CO₂ equivalent. This will require the amendment of the GSR2 safety standard, as discussed below.

Our goals for the Pop-Car: affordable, sustainable, appealing

We envisage a four-seater BEV that will be affordable, sustainable, and appealing to consumers. It will be primarily pitched at urban and peri-urban use, but still have value for rural locations.

Regarding emissions, we’ve set ourselves a threshold of 6 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent in relation to the lifecycle assessment of the value chain, assessed using the ADEME methodology. This target is less than 30% of the current threshold for the French ecological bonus. We’re aiming, too, to halve energy consumption. In terms of cost, we’ve set a target of €10,000 for a purchase or, for a lease, 100 euros per month including insurance.

To meet our sustainability and affordability objectives, the vehicle must have the following characteristics:

• Lightweight: Currently, there’s no BEV with a weight of between 400kg and 975kg because of safety regulations and battery weight. We can reduce that weight by using smaller batteries – this type of vehicle can be charged every day and will typically be used over short distances, so range is less of a concern. This approach is a major step toward lightweight the car, along with eco-design including the use of innovative and green materials.
• Small: Reducing the car’s overall dimensions further reduces vehicle weight and the amount of raw materials needed, with affordability and eco benefits. In addition, a smaller vehicle is more appealing to end-users as it will be easier to drive and park, especially in a city.
• Safe: Safety is at the heart of our concept. As well as being an important objective in its own right, it has affordability and sustainability implications. Today’s microcars are cheap to buy but expensive to insure (maybe €2,000 per annum for a vehicle that only costs €7,000). By contrast, the Pop-Car will be as safe as cars currently on the road and therefore cheaper to insure. The two steps of our roadmap (shown above) will use slightly different approaches:
  • In the first step, the Pop-Car will fully comply with the GSR2 safety regulation, as reviewed in July 2024.
  • For the second step, we’ll need to get GSR2 amended so that we can further reduce the weight via an active safety approach based on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Today’s passive safety requires extra materials, pushing weight upward.
• Repairable: Making repairs easier and cheaper is an important way of extending lifespan, which will help with both sustainability and affordability. For example, if the car’s price can be amortized over nine years instead of today’s four, that should lower insurance premiums. We need to rework the industry’s business model to reflect ideas like this.

In addition to the individual levers discussed above, the primary way to achieve all these characteristics is to design the properties we want in the car from day one, as explained in my earlier ecodesign blog article.

On the affordability front, we must ensure that the car’s sustainability is rewarded by financial incentives such as the French ecological bonus. And it needs to be manufactured and sold in high volumes (we’re hoping for a million sales per year) to keep input costs down.

What we’ve already done:

We’ve already created a platform design that shows it’s viable to make a car that complies with our objectives, for example, reducing weight by using smaller batteries. We’ll take this platform forward so that manufacturers can use it as a basis for rapidly developing their own Pop-Car models. Individual OEMs can choose how to use the platform – for example, there are recommendations about limiting speed but each OEM can decide whether or not to do so. Similarly, they can choose which ADAS features to include. We recognize that these decisions will be affected by the evolving regulatory environment.

Alongside this work, we’ve carried out business model simulation, supporting it with marketing studies and analyses of existing products and concepts such as Japan’s Kei car.

In addition, we’ve created an advocacy position to persuade the European Commission (EC) to support our new category. We are working to establish a dialogue with decision-makers within the EC.

We’ve publicized our concept in several forums, including the recent Paris Motor Show, the Movin’On LinkedIn channel, and a special summit held in November. Our audience’s reception has been extremely positive.

What we want to do next:

Our aim is now to influence the EC to introduce this new category of vehicle and help the industry build the actual vehicles.

What we need from the EC is:

• Recognition of the new vehicle category
• An incentive mechanism similar to the French ecological bonus, but with more challenging requirements and extended to the whole of the EU
• The integration of this category of vehicles into the CAFE calculation with an incentive mechanism, such as a multiplier coefficient whereby the sale of a Pop-Car is triple-counted
• Measures such as research tax credits to promote innovations in terms of weight reduction, sustainable development, use of recycled materials, and other circular economy innovations.

What our community needs to do to bring the vehicles to market is:

• Lobby the EC to make the changes above
• Fine-tune our proposals
• Engage further with the automotive and mobility industries to increase the profile of our work
• Build a platform simulation using ecodesign and circular economy tools, and then a prototype Pop-Car

Your opportunity to get in on the ground floor

Why not join us? For example, we need more financial services companies and product ecodesign specialists to work alongside Capgemini Engineering and the other experts in our group on fine-tuning the technical details of our proposals. To prepare for and build the prototype, we urgently need the involvement of, and investment from, OEMs or mobility providers.

Our partners can build a competitive advantage in several ways. They’ll have direct access to our platform and the results of all our ADAS work. They’ll be able to begin mass production as soon as the regulatory framework allows. And they’ll benefit from working with Capgemini Engineering, which has extensive relevant experience on successful projects such as the Citroën Ami and Mobilize Duo.

By joining the Pop-Car initiative, you could help to define the future of affordable, sustainable mobility. Contact me today to find out more.