Electric cars could be crucial for the EU to meet its climate goals

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SUV, a saloon and a racing car on display. The price tags were high (around €50,000, or $54,000, for the passenger car and almost €75,000 for the SUV; the racing car was not for sale) but they seemed considerably lower than those of German rivals such as Mercedes or BMW—until you read the fine print. The battery is not included.

It must be bought for €12,000 or €21,000, depending on capacity; or rented. For many Europeans an EV is still unaffordable (an average petrol-powered passenger car sells for around €28,000), but sales of EVs keep growing rapidly. Fully battery-powered cars accounted for 12.1% of cars registered in the European Union (EU) last year, compared with 9.1% for EVs in 2021 and just 1.9% in 2019, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).

A wider category, alternatively powered vehicles (APVs), which lumps together pure electric and plug-in and non-plug-in hybrids, made up more than half the EU car market during the last quarter of 2022, with over 1.3m vehicles registered in total. It was the first time that APVs surpassed purely hydrocarbon-powered cars. “The EU is the global front-runner in the adoption of EVs," stated a report last November by McKinsey, a consultancy.

The union’s member states are themselves responsible for more than a quarter of the world’s EV production, and are big importers of them too. Forward-thinking carmakers and early-adopting consumers could create a world-leading EV ecosystem, which could generate new jobs and speed up progress towards climate goals—or so McKinsey enthuses. The biggest stumbling-block to an electric-car future, though, is the charging infrastructure, which is not keeping pace with the increase in vehicle sales.