[rsynnott]

... They didn't. Globally, and in the EU and China, they're rising fairly healthily (the EU did have a ~flat year in 2024, but 2025 and so far '26 have resumed growth). They're down a little in the US, but the US is a particularly awkward market for them (preference for large cars, and domestic manufacturers are rather behind the curve).

[pojzon]

Yup 0.6% in 2025 in Europe for sure makes a difference.

The moment subsidiary for EVs is removed, sales will plument like in US. And those will be removed as EU is going through energy and resources crisis.

EVs make sense only in China, where goverment has a working brain and invests heavly in nuclear power plants.

[rsynnott]

... Where are you getting that figure? BEV sales grew by about 30% in Europe last year.

> And those will be removed as EU is going through energy and resources crisis.

... Which is making petrol cars more expensive to run. Right as EVs are starting to get cheaper than petrol cars. In Ireland, say, an id.Polo starts at at 20k EUR, after a 3500 euro subsidy. A _normal_ Polo starts at 25k. Even without the subsidy, the EV version is still cheaper.

And petrol is 1.90eur/litre right now and rising. A Polo does about 20km/l, so 950eur/10,000km. The id.Polo does 13.3 kWh/100km, that is 0.133kWh per km. On a normal 24 hour tariff of 30c/kwh, that's 399eur/10,000km. If you're okay with charging it between 2am and 4am, and are on a smart meter plan with cheap early-morning energy (you probably should be if you have a BEV) it's more like 100eur/10,000km. If you have solar panels, it's likely approximately free.

(If you want to get a bit weird, some providers offer free electricity on weekends in exchange for more expensive energy during the week, so if that fits your usage pattern... Some European countries, though not Ireland, have providers who'll offer tariffs based on spot price plus a margin, so in some cases you can even get paid for charging it, as spot prices can go negative! That said, if you want to do any of the seriously esoteric stuff, you're probably looking for something with more range than the base id.Polo.)

So given that, if you have space for a charger at home... why are you buying the petrol version? I think 2026 will actually be a bit of a bumper year for EVs; they're finally beginning to get to the price level where they're cheaper than the equiv petrol car _even if you ignore running costs_.

And this is Ireland, which has about the highest electricity costs in Europe.

(This isn't just the Polo, btw; VW EVs generally come in a bit cheaper than the equivalent petrol version after subsidies, though the id.Polo may be the only one that's cheaper even _without_ subsidies right now. Which broadly makes sense as it's the newest.)

[pojzon]

You dont understand how supply and demand works.

Europe has energy deficit. When most ppl want to charge their cars (night) there is no solar power. We have no energy banks and all that power needed to supposedly charge tens of millions of cars would have to come from? Yes -> coal power plants, because our politicians decommissioned nuclear power plants. Lets tak about what is NOW and what can be in next 10 years.

In the coming 10 years vast majority of ppl still wont have passive homes with solar panels and energy banks to charge their cars, so they are 100% dependant on the grid.

Grid is old and not well maintained in majority of EU countries. It has finite transfer power.

Now we throw 500million cars on top of it. Its impossible mathematically and physically.

The moment number of electric cars starts growing, we will need more and more energy, this means more fuel for plants, more plants investitions, more grid investitions etc. It all costs money. So energy companies will bill you MORE and more. If not energy cost protections in countries like Poland or Italy, cost of energy would double next day.

Its all subsidised now, due to war, no fuel, Iran and many other reasons I already mentioned.

So overall its worth it ONLY due to subs and it can be worth it if we invest into our infrastructure for the next 30-50 years.

As it is now - its all just a hoax.