Ecodesign/Energy Labelling Review - Electric Motors

Introduction

The European Commission (Directorate-General for Energy), hereafter DG ENER, is carrying out a back-to-back evaluation and impact assessment study for the Review of Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/1781 of October 2019 laying down Ecodesign requirements for electric motors and variable speed drives (VSDs).

DG ENER is supported for this review through a contract with Viegand Maagøe as contract manager and with Fraunhofer ISI as coordinator. The information and views set out in this context are those of the study team and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission. 

Review

Policy context

Ecodesign and energy labelling help to deliver the Clean Industrial Deal and Affordable Energy Action Plan. Ecodesign has long supported a circular economy and strengthened the EU single market for energy-related products. Its implementation has significantly reduced consumer energy bills and enhanced the EU’s energy security by lowering primary energy consumption and decreasing reliance on imports. It has also helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigating climate change cost-effectively since the energy costs avoided outweigh the investments needed. Existing measures need to be reviewed regularly to ensure they remain relevant, efficient and effective in the light of technological and market developments. 

The Commission’s 2025-2030 Ecodesign for Sustainable Products and Energy Labelling Working Plan includes the review of the Ecodesign Regulation (EU) 2019/1781 for electric motors and variable speed drives among the items carried forward from the 2022-2024 plan into the new ESPR working plan. Moreover, anticipating technological progress, Article 9 of the Regulation requires the Commission to perform a review.

Objectives

The review aims to assess how successful the Regulation has been in achieving or progressing towards their objectives and to update them to ensure the measures remain relevant, efficient and effective in the light of technological and market developments.

Methodology

Two main phases have to be carried out in a back-to-back review process: 

• Evaluation
• Impact assessment 

Evaluation and impact assessment will be launched at the same time and carried out as a single process (in a so-called ‘back-to-back’ manner). 

Timeline

The work is expected to run from December 2024 until Spring 2027.

Stakeholder interaction

Stakeholder input is welcome and essential to the investigation. Stakeholders will have various opportunities to: 

1. share their experience with the implementation of the current legislation on electric motors and VSDs,
2. provide input on market or technology developments since the previous analysis was carried out and
3. provide data as an input to inform the legislative review and revision process.

Preliminary timing for opportunities for interaction

Dates are indicative and may be subject to change. In addition, the project team may foresee ‘ad-hoc’ exchanges with key stakeholders, based on specific needs and requirements of the investigation. Up-to-date information on the timing is provided on CIRCABC (see ‘Documents’). 

Documents

All public documents for the review will be made available in CIRCABC. If you experience any difficulty downloading or opening a file, please contact motorsisi [dot] fraunhofer [dot] de (motors[at]isi[dot]fraunhofer[dot]de).

Registration for meetings and consultation surveys

Please register here for receiving updates on the review process and invitations to stakeholder meetings.

Meetings and consultation surveys, once scheduled, will be shared in CIRCABC and announced via email to registered stakeholders. 

Creating an EU Login for accessing CIRCABC

If you do not already have an EU Login, please view this link to create an EU Login. Once the EU login is created, then you can access CIRCABC.

For more information, you can also check out this EU Login FAQ page.

Receiving notifications from CircaBC

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