133. The representative of the United States of America introduced ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2012/36 and its Corr.1, containing a proposal by the European Union, Japan and the United States for establishing two informal working groups on Electric Vehicles Safety (EVS) as well as on Electric Vehicles and Environment (EVE). These would report to GRSP and GRPE, respectively. The representative of China offered to co-sponsor the initiative. AC.3 adopted ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2012/36 and its Corr.1 and welcomed the co-sponsorship of China. The secretariat was requested to prepare the corresponding AC.3 document. The representative of the United States of America offered to chair while China and EU offered to Vice-Chair the EVS group. Japan committed itself to take over the secretarial tasks. The representative of the United States of America also offered to chair the EVE group, vice-chaired by China and Japan, while Canada would take over the secretarial tasks. AC.3 noted that the first meeting of EVS was tentatively scheduled for 23-25 April 2012 in Washington DC, USA, and that the first meeting of EVE would take place in Geneva, on Friday 8 June 2012, starting at 11.30 a.m. in conjunction with the GRPE session.

66. The expert from the USA presented a proposal on the Terms of Reference for the informal working group on Electric Vehicles and Environment (EVE) (GRPE-63-13). On behalf of all the co-sponsors: the EU, Japan and the USA, he underlined the need to establish two informal working groups addressing the safety and environmental issues of electric vehicles (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/2012/36), as approved by WP.29 (ECE/TRANS/WP.29/1093) in its last session. He informed GRPE that the co-sponsors aim to: (a) exchange information on current and future regulatory requirements for electric vehicles in different markets; (b) minimize the differences between these regulatory requirements, with a view toward facilitating the development of vehicles to comply with such requirements; and (c) where possible, develop common requirements in the form of UN GTRs. He reminded GRPE that the informal group on EVE is expected to address environmental issues, while another informal group, established in the GRSP framework, should focus on Electric Vehicle Safety.

67. The GRPE Chair welcomed the proposal and invited GRPE experts that send their comments on the proposal to the expert from the USA (delaney.maureen@epa.gov). He concluded that there is no intention, at the moment, to develop a UN GTR on environmental issues (while such a development is likely in the case of safety). He stated the expectation that this initiative would reinforce the work undertaken on electric vehicles by other groups (like HDH and WLTP).