The European Commission published its Electrification Action Plan on July 17, 2026, alongside a review of the EU Emissions Trading System. The plan sets an indicative target: electricity should reach 46 percent of the EU's final energy consumption by 2040, roughly double the 23 percent share it has held for the past decade. The Commission pairs the target with an ETS overhaul it says is worth more than 100 billion euro in industrial decarbonisation support, framed as a way to cut the bloc's fossil fuel import bill and lower electricity costs.
The plan leans on electric vehicles and heat pumps as the two biggest levers: the Commission cites EVs as up to 78 percent cheaper to run than an equivalent combustion car, and heat pumps as capable of cutting a household's heating bill by up to 60 percent.
The angle worth watching is not the target itself but what it implies for the grid. Doubling electrified demand means doubling the amount of load that has to respond to price and capacity signals, not just draw power on demand. That is what OCPP-based smart charging already does today, on any charger, regardless of which platform or hardware brand it runs. Plugchoice's free CSMS and OCPP proxy let a charger stay portable across operators and backends while still taking part in that demand-flexibility layer.
Sources: European Commission, Electrification, World Resources Institute, edie.