When will electric cars become the norm? In Europe, we’re still a long way from that point. Sales of electric cars represented just 1.2 % of all new cars sold in the European Union in 2015. Roughly 0.1% of all cars on European roads are currently electric.

Nevertheless, the numbers are growing fast. In 2016, the number of electric cars in the world surpassed 2 million for the first time. That’s a 100% increase on 2015, when the 1 million mark was reached. True, it’s somewhat less impressive when you consider that there are estimated to be more than billion cars in the world today. Clearly, there’s a long way to go before all cars are electric. But how long?

What do our readers think? One of the big issues when it comes to electric cars is the lack of infrastructure, particularly when it comes to finding a charging point. We had a comment from Alex suggesting it should be a legal requirement for every petrol station to upgrade and add charging stations for electric cars. Would that be a viable option?

To get a response, we spoke to Greg Archer, Director at Clean Vehicles at the European Federation for Transport and Environment (otherwise known as Transport & Environment). What would he make of Alex’s suggestion?

Next up, we had a comment from Nicky who thinks governments should do more to incentivise buying electric cars, through things like tax breaks or subsidies. Does Greg Archer agree? Or does he think the level of government support for electric vehicles is adequate?

To get another perspective, we also put Nicky’s comment to Chris Carroll, Sustainable Transport Project Officer at the European Consumers´ Organisation (BEUC). Does he think governments should offer better tax breaks for buying electric cars?

Finally, we had a comment from Anatilde, who pointed out that people won’t buy electric cars until there are more charging stations to support them. So, who pays for this infrastructure? Governments? The market? A mixture of both?

Should all cars be electric by 2025? Who will pay for the necessary infrastructure upgrades? Should petrol stations be compelled to install charging stations? Should governments do more to incentivise buying electric vehicles? Let us know your thoughts and comments in the form below and we’ll take them to policymakers and experts for their reactions!

IMAGE CREDITS: (c) BigStockPhoto / ramiai
This debate is part of the SHAPE ENERGY project. By participating you are confirming you are 18+. Contributions to the debate may be directly quoted (anonymously) in the SHAPE ENERGY reports. If you do not want your contribution to be used, send us an email within two weeks of posting your comment.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 731264.
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385 comments Post a commentcomment

What do YOU think?

  1. avatar
    Giulia Noia Dipresa

    Yes, but how will we produce that much energy? Still using Oil and Coal? So what’s the deal? We stop using oil to make fuel but we use it to run power plants to get electricity for our cars?

    • avatar
      Giulia Noia Dipresa

      Anton Johansson I know, Italy has refused nuclear power plants but we have them on our borders and we take waste from other countries so… I hope that the development of nuclear technologies will be able to cut the waste as much as possible.

    • avatar
      Patrik Klingborg

      As far as I understand, using electricity from coal and oil for cars is actually far superior to using cars with gasoline and diesel engines in terms of both energy output and environmental damage. Power plants are simply better at producing energy.

    • avatar
      Anton Ferre

      That’s not true, a petrol car engine has a thermal efficiency between 25 to 50%, for the sake of argument lets take the average, 35%, an electric engine has a, efficiency of about 60% but to that number you have to add the termal efficiency of the oil powerplant, that is between 40 and 50%, taking 45% average we have that 45%*60%=27% wich is slightly less, and that without taking in account loses for energy transport trough the power grid. This are rough estimates but i hope they prove my point.

    • avatar
      Theodor

      In North and Baltic sea there are wind turbines who have excess electricity and they need to dump it. Charging the batteries with this electricity will give more money to renewable energy and it will make energy production more effiecient due to network balancing

    • avatar
      Prof. Moritz Stratmann

      Giulia, è giustissimo

  2. avatar
    Oli Lau

    No. You will as usual cause a lot of problems to the poorer of our society. They can’t buy a new car each time there is a new idea in the political world.

    • avatar
      Cyriaque Bouchet

      So give them subsidiary in order for them to do so. We can’t afford to keep polluting the air.

    • avatar
      Oli Lau

      sure taxes them from on side to give them money on the other side. this is ridiculous. Can you imagine a solution that doesn’t require a new tax?

    • avatar
      Oli Lau

      Completly false.

    • avatar
      Oli Lau

      I’m currently writing this on a smartphone powered by Android I don’t remember either of them have received money from the state. That is a biased European point of view that can’t imagine anything without state money.

    • avatar
      Manolis Eugenio Bournellis

      Well, you’re using the World Wide Web (www) which was invented at CERN, which is, guess what? State funded by EU members… Without that, android wouldn’t even have been a concept. You care about people financialy challenged, which I agree on, yet you’re against State Funded research, which is the only access that scientists that don’t work at huge corporate labs have access to. Non State funded research only looks at profits and gains, without it, every new innovation would only move forward if it was deemed profitable by corporations. I’m against a lot of things when it comes to State, but tachnology funding is clearly not one of them as it promotes innovation, if anything, that’s one sector that the EU should spend more money on.

    • avatar
      Oli Lau

      First i didn’t say all inventions have been privately funded. I merely pointing out that a lot of inventions have been privately funded. Stating that ALL inventions have been state funded is a gross biased point of view that you can only find in european (aka socialist / social democrat) societies where everything private is suspicious at best, evil at worst.

      If companies are so eager to make money then for sure they will invest where the demand and or the RoI is the highest.

  3. avatar
    Nando Aidos

    YES! And solve the vehicle replacement problem for the less fortunate! That has to be part of the solution!

  4. avatar
    Szekely Alexandru

    They should, for a cheaper price, EU should encourage more and more the use of electric cars, I know it already does, but plenty of work is stil needed.

  5. avatar
    Christofer Catilan

    YES! As long as environmental drawbacks are equal or less severe. This profound dependence on oil is unhealthy in many ways, not least for strategic reasons.

    • avatar
      Mandravelis Ioannis

      Unfortunately, if the necessary electric power is produced on fossil fuels,the environmental effect will be worse,since the total efficiency is lower.Of course ,the environmental problem will be localized (around the power plants),and the situation will be much better if the additionally needed power will be produced on renewables

  6. avatar
    Cãlin Rednic

    It would be best, but let’s also be real and have sympathy for those who need to move and still can’t afford an EV. Afterall isn’t their fault that the society was built around the car…

  7. avatar
    Cyriaque Bouchet

    Yes, absolutely. This change will bring not only cleaner and less noisy cities but also work for the huge investment it represents (creating recharge stations, and electric power plants – green one would be best – and thereafter for maintenance of those infrastructures).

  8. avatar
    Medman Vita

    THIS COMMENT HAS BEEN REMOVED BY MODERATORS FOR BREACHING OUR CODE OF CONDUCT. REPLIES MAY ALSO BE REMOVED.

  9. avatar
    Zille Vuk

    As long there is no power source that can make your car go 1000km without recharge ..NO

    • avatar
      PG

      This is the fundamental point , 100 km autonomy is an absolute necessity , and battery technology will have to be without lithium and its polluting and energy intensive production . City dwellers have forgotten that there are many places in Europe , where there is no mains electricity .
      And nothing is being done about the air pollution from the marine sector which is more than vehicles , as this would mean a massive change in business and financial models and also reduce consumption and profits

  10. avatar
    Simon Farrell

    yes, if you wonder where all the extra power will come from, have a look around and see how many shopping centres factories and stadiums have solar panels fitted. then look how many homes have solar panels fitted. Then consider how much more can be produced by installing larger wind turbines. also don’t think of the electric car as a vehicle but a mobile power station that can move power, for example, from work (powered by green energy) to your home (with solar panels and battery storage) when demand is high then charge up at night when you sleep.

    • avatar
      Robert Seifert

      the trouble is, that the sun is not shining at night when you sleep. So where does the electricity you use to charge your “clean car” come from?

  11. avatar
    Julia Hadjikyriacou

    Please get rid of humanities dependence on oil (at least in the EU) to usher in peace on earth (with regards to oil), independence, prosperity, cleaner air and to save the planet.

  12. avatar
    Michael Šimková

    Ideally, but I think we need to be careful about the batteries. Producing many batteries is not necessarily cheap or clean, and we don’t want another diesel fiasco substituting one problem for another.

    We may need better batteries for electric cars to be truly cleaner. Meanwhile to make such decisions we must take into account the whole manufacturing process and useful life of the car, not only its emissions when new and working well.

    • avatar
      PG

      The pollution from production and recycling is forgotten by most

  13. avatar
    Marshall Jones

    Should governments compensate motorists that they persuaded to buy diesel cars at a premium cost?

    • avatar
      John Knapp

      Hydrogen is pollution free and still uses the old style of petrol engine,… is safe and can produced on demand,… efficient,.. economic electric cars have a ways to go yet,…

    • avatar
      Lynne Warner

      John still doesn’t answer my question about the millions of diesel cars. Carbon trading perhaps, dump them in Africa or some other poor country.

    • avatar
      Michael Šimková

      UK will be the future dumping ground for all obsolete European cars. They will need the money after Brexit. Plus it will give the country a nice Cuban-like charm that will help bring in more tourists. ;)

    • avatar
      Paul X

      @Michael Šimková… au contraire mon ami

      Look who is leading the field in electric cars…

      http://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-reichmuth/electric-car-leaders-laggards

      ….and then look who is the fourth highest importer of their cars (more than the next two EU countries combined I may add)

      https://www.statista.com/statistics/267252/key-automobile-markets-of-bmw-group/

      Looks like all the shiny new electric BMW’s will be coming to the UK whilst all our clapped out trade-ins will be sent back over the channel.. ;-)

    • avatar
      PG

      Thats not the only problem , garages have difficulty repairing electronics today in cars , all electric will be a totally new problem , who will be able to repair them and at what cost

  14. avatar
    Robert Struyven

    It’s the wrong debate. When travelling ‘in groups’ we share trains, boats and airplanes. When we go in group to our job we need our very own private container to reach destination.

  15. avatar
    Manuel Martín Bravo

    The very first reaction is yelling “Yes!” but think it twice. Wouldn’t be better to say instead non-traditional fuel based cars? I mean electricity might not be the single solution and I don’t refer uniquely to biomass or Hydrogen, look around ;)

  16. avatar
    Medman Vita

    In the 90s I was in Turingia germany and was introduced to an ele tric car which was functional but the banks did not back the makers.. check out www. Treffpunctzukunft.com……. also in the 90s I wanted to import an electric car from china for 10,000 dollars including batteries. Theynwere heavilly taxed and to buy just b the lithium batteries in europe would have costed 10,000 euroes .. please not that zt the time lithium bztteries were only made in china…. so my openion is fuck europe .. europe is for gays trans and muzlims!!!!!!! I say it again FUCK EUROPE,,,,,!!!!!!

  17. avatar
    Paulius Paždagis

    Oil-less – yes. By 2025, who knows, there may be some other form of effective energy solution for cars.

  18. avatar
    Elie Awad

    we cant force that , because technology change , what will do with millions of car if the type of the motor change . example : now they made a new type of batteries wich is a rechrged liquid , u stop by u buy a recharged liquid and u pull out the empty for the station to recharge it slowly . we just have to wait for the best technology and change will happens

  19. avatar
    ironworker

    Not at all, more public transportation should be implemented by 2025. Electric cars are more expensive to be produced and maintained than conventional cars. Sorry, VW , Daimler &co.

    • avatar
      Theodor

      I think maintenance is cheaper on a electric car. You have less parts on the motor and on transmission

  20. avatar
    Andrew Potts

    Lol you could not make this up the EU promoting a complete change of car fleet to electric. Keeping the same design model of performance, passenger numbers and size. It is like the car industry wish list for sales for the next 50 years.

  21. avatar
    Mimi Voiculescu

    Electric cars , yes !The smog in the big cities would be history ,the price of oil will go down, Putin s source of money will go low, very low and peace would be easier to achieve ! So many advantages !

  22. avatar
    Dimitris Orfanoudis

    No question.. .. Holland and Norway set to 2025 however for the rest of EU will be an extended period of time….

  23. avatar
    Sérgio Santos

    They should yes, but I don’t think we’ll be ready for it by 2025. But we should be doing everything we can to go electric as soon as possible. It’s a shame we aren’t closer to it yet.

    • avatar
      PG

      It will be impossible to build are the generation units and distribution network necessary by 2025 , as many places in the UE do not have mains electricity

  24. avatar
    Jean Charles Branco

    electruic car is menace against petrol industrie. they will tell u only 10years from now will have eletric car, sinc 1970 they say this. its not donable, industrie of oil will not allow to loose buisness just because u like clean energy for free. free energy ,how can someone steal ur money if u use clean energy? not possible this car electric canot work because economic reasons, they need to steal our money when we could drive for free

  25. avatar
    Olivier Duhamel

    Uniformization of transport modalities is as dangerous as thinking uniformization.
    A transport modalities policy mix must remain. Electric / Oil / Biofuel / hydrogen / Gasoil / Diesel / LPG at least for strategic matters.
    What about the risk of having all the electric cars unusable because of massive solar flares. Electric cars is an answer, an offer, it is not THE answer and must not be the unique answer to transport modalities by 2025…

  26. avatar
    Laurentiu Paun

    We do not have the necessary infrastructure to recharge electric cars. It is almoust impossible to build by 2025. For the moment the distance with purely electric car is small (except Tesla).in addition Europe will suffer another wave of arabs since their governments can not feed them in absence of the oil export incomes.

  27. avatar
    catherine benning

    Should all cars be electric by 2025?

    LOL

  28. avatar
    Achim Willi Flores

    The biggest lie and bullshit of our century !!! Another trick from the corrupt government & criminal industrie to fool the people….don’t believe in that shit … ;-)

  29. avatar
    Ray Southam

    Well, of course the rich would love to see the rest of us off the road!!!!! Get real!!!

    • avatar
      Arnout Posthumus

      I would to. We are destroying the planet and since no 1 takes matters in thier own hands, they need to be forced. Apperently we only take some sort of action when are being invaded by people.

  30. avatar
    Anton Ferre

    I presonally agree that electric cars powered with nuclear power plants is the way to go, even with the problems that nuclear power presents in itself, but there is still a long way to go before its feasible globally in europe or elswhere, and in no way its going to be possible by 2025.

  31. avatar
    Phanos Levendis

    YES , AS LONG AS THE STATES WILL PROVIDE CHEAP ELECTRICITY AND ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY PRODUCED !!! ANOTHER PROBLEM FOR ELECTRIC CARS [NOW] IS THE LIVE OF THE BATTERIES AND THEIR HIGH COST …

  32. avatar
    Jean-michel Blue

    impossible to clear the old vehicles unless we want to create more chaos into a chaotic society . Good luck on that , the deadline is too short .

  33. avatar
    Simon Sadler

    Not at the projected prices,also batteries are not 100 % efficient charging/discharging,and that energy has to come from somewhere,if you look at the ‘claimed ‘sources of the giant power producers they are nowhere near being ‘Eco ‘.Combustion engine efficiency is getting better and cleaner.What most people want is a not so ‘Posh ‘ small engined electro /fuel propelled vehicle.

  34. avatar
    Sabin Popescu

    absolutely not!!!
    why don’t people learn history?
    at the beginning of the 20th century the technology for electric cars was way more advanced than for combustion engines. Then the govt. initiated policies to favor the development of combustion engines so the gap wouldn’t be too high.
    And now the same govts. are charging all of us to fund the policies that are supposed to repair the damage. Guess what? 50 years from now they will be charging us to fund the policies to repair the crisis generated by their actual policies…

  35. avatar
    Auer Bru

    In general yes, electric cars run for much larger mileages than standard gas cars

  36. avatar
    Mino Álvarez

    Is impossible that for that year all the cars were electric, but, at least, I think that could to be possible that only electric cars can be sold.

  37. avatar
    Lynda Germon

    NO…. too many fantástic cars around that would be ridículos to try and electrify !

  38. avatar
    Fábio Vilanova Campos

    where are we all gonna recharge it?
    atm they feel like glorified smartphones with wheels, their mileage is rubbish and don’t forget that all of us either leave on a place where we can charge our car easily nor there are batteries that can recharge in a matter of minutes, the same way that you take a few of them to refill your tank with petrol or diesel.
    also, not all eu nations are producing enough spare energy to keep the demand of a electric car, so if we have to buy electricity from another country, it will only mean that they will be burning fossil fuel for us.

    • avatar
      Per Lyngemark

      We’re talking 2025, not today. There is an energy boom going on now and we’re just a few years from greening up the grid and have abundance of electricity. Also the charging infrastructure is booming like insane! We had three chargers in Sweden three years ago, now we have 10k and will reach 30k end of next year. Should reach a million by 2025.
      Also cars are getting cheaper, better range and faster charging.
      If you look at last years data to make assumptions for 2025 you will fail

    • avatar
      Fábio Vilanova Campos

      Not all Europe is as well developed energy wise as Sweden. and if we wanna be self sufficient enough to push electric cars by 2025 we have 8 years to fix our energy producing problems, unless we do so the electric car for everyone will remain a pipe dream.

  39. avatar
    Laurent Bastings

    No, because, what would be really in it for the following sequence:

    1. Hybrid petrol fueled caes 2. hydrogyn fueled cars, and last but not least 3. electric cars; 4. magnetic levitation pushed – pulled cars, trucks, 5. …

    Why? There will always be a foremost emerging questions to overthink. What is in it for the the utillity of the specifically sequences of elements?

    H20, or separately: H, and O2,…

  40. avatar
    Maia Alexandrova

    By 2025 they should all be at least hybrid, by 2050 – electric and by 2075 – flying!

  41. avatar
    Peter Waegemans

    2025 would be quite difficult. But by 2030 driving electric will be cheaper than driving on fuels anyway. By 2035, fuel engines will be out of the market.

  42. avatar
    Martin Snijder

    hebben nog steed de auto’s niet voor elkaar.er vrees dat ze ook straat beelsd nooit gaan bepalen na brandstof auto.mag openbare vervoersmiddel in de lift.super loop en airdrive is de toekomst

  43. avatar
    Παυλος Χαραλαμπους

    Yes but Not all of them! The replacement should be gradual in order people who rely on cheap used cars to be able to afford a electric one otherwise people in eastern and southern Europe will be unable to make a living! Since in our counties a personal vehicle is the only way to go to your job is so important that in many cases that the first question that employers ask is ” do you have a vehicle “?

  44. avatar
    Andrew Potts

    The design model being repeated again and again where performance and load capacity for cars remain the same just show how utterly dump EU sustainability logic is

    • avatar
      Theodor Paulus

      What do you mean by “again where performance and load capacity for cars remain the same”?

  45. avatar
    Teresa Silva

    There are many questions on this issue: the price of electricity, the costs of producing more and more electricity, the safety of having electric engines in case of catastrophes that cut us power, what is safety of battery garbage?

    • avatar
      Theodor Paulus

      batteries can be recycled. The wind turbines have an excess of capacity. The petroleum comes from unstable areas as Middle East Venezuela,Africa the current can be produced in your homeland

  46. avatar
    Taline Babikian Angelidou

    Yes
    ..without a question!!! Keeps EU countriee out of conflicts related with oil and gas. Better invest all that money into harvesting the sun!

    • avatar
      Remi Penet

      Unless electricity is made by nuclear power plants

    • avatar
      Theodor Paulus

      It is no need for coal or nuclear power plants, the wind mills from North and Baltic seas have an excess of energy that they waste it because there is not a demand when they have strong winds. The battery from the cars could store this excess balancing the power grid

  47. avatar
    Remi Penet

    I think hybrid cars will become the norm. But when electric cars will be as efficient as petrol cars and when electrical terminals wont be that rare, then Electric cars will be hegemonic

  48. avatar
    Gemma Lahoz Casarramona

    Yes please, along with electricity being produced sustainably and materials being extracted and disposed of responsibly. Thank you.

  49. avatar
    Theodor

    The main problem is charging time, range and costs. The fuel cost and maintenance are lower in electric cars, and this can offset the initial high costs. I think that foremost the companies who work in a city will be more interested: taxis, delivery companies,public transportation, public utilities. After that the price of vehicles will be low enough for general public.

  50. avatar
    Miguel Cabrita

    Should all heavy duty trucks and Lorries be electric by 2025, as well as vehicles with refrigeration for food and medicines transportation? The answer is: there is no technology available that will allow an efficient logistics system to supply European cities, villages and towns with goods, without a great increase of vehicles in circulation.

  51. avatar
    Miguel Cabrita

    Should all heavy duty trucks and Lorries be electric by 2025, as well as vehicles with refrigeration for food and medicines transportation? The answer is: there is no technology available that will allow an efficient logistics system to supply European cities, villages and towns with goods, without a great increase of vehicles in circulation.

    Simply, no!

    • avatar
      Miguel Cabrita

      …and tractors and dumpers and other machinery for agriculture, construction, road repair, and for transportation of the wings of wind turbines to the place of assembly? No!

  52. avatar
    Viorika Motoi

    Yes thy should ,is time to lett the petrolio extaccion and a big monster construction of cars to make another caind of cars whit renovables energi!

  53. avatar
    Val Anderson

    no, i don’t want any car that the government can control when one is behind the wheel

  54. avatar
    Benjamín José Rekarte Aranguren

    Si al vehículo eléctrico ya.

  55. avatar
    Παυλος Χαραλαμπους

    Nope not realistic what about the people that can’t afford an expensive new car? Or the ones who have to travel great distances for their jobs? Or what about the construction vehicles? Without them you can’t even install the network for the electric ones! !and what about the areas that the is no network at all or electricity is expensive and unreliable?

  56. avatar
    Yannick Cornet

    It’s cities that ought to be car free by 2025. The car is still the most energy and space inefficient mode of transport, independently of how it is powered. Plus it kills and maims. Most trips in cities are below 10km. That’s bikeable, if not e-bikeable. Cars simply should not be the norm if we are to become sustainable, sorry.

    17/08/2017 Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Research Professor in Environmental Epidemiology at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), has responded to this comment.

  57. avatar
    yourboyblacktrump.com

    The country has made an ambitious plan to get all-electric cars on its roads by the year 2025.

  58. avatar
    Martin van Boven

    Ewww. Muting this group.
    This has nothing to do with debating Europe, and everything with advancing the harmful notion that “Europe” should decide on everything.
    In essence, it’s a mindless pro-EU agitprop group.

    • avatar
      José Bessa da Silva

      This question is actually one of the few where they didn’t include “europe”, “eu” or “across europe” in a long time…

    • avatar
      David Moody

      ^ 100% correct, guaranteed.

  59. avatar
    Patricia Smith

    Has the enviromental impact of all the comments for the new batteris been assessed and balanced agaainst hybrid/other. Remember some one probably on very low wages is now the cobalt mines etc

    • avatar
      Barbara Szela Lesniak

      10/10 – I wonder how many of those whose answer to the question is ‘yes’ know all pros and cons? I doubt they’ve heard about the cobalt mines in Congo…

    • avatar
      Patricia Smith

      out of sight out of mind. also inpact of end of life batteries

  60. avatar
    Antonio Brugarolas

    Will we have enough electricity capacity to feed those million new electric cars? So far we can’t make the migration as we don’t have enough electricity capacity for our current needs and them…

  61. avatar
    Andrew Potts

    The car needs to be regulated to real conditions. They are designed to big and to fast. They are also replaced long before their useful life is over. Greater regulation is needed to ensure max speed matches average speed. Carry capacity matches user capacity. Working lifetime is stretched to forty years like the airframes. It is in the interests of country’s without a car manufacturing industry to promote repair and maintenance to keep cars on the road , it would mean more jobs in their country rather then manufacturing jobs. At the moment the emissions of manufacture are greater then the emissions of the car during its lifetime.

  62. avatar
    Tomek Smaga

    No. Making such laws will practically ban mobility for low income people incl. most of Eastern Europe. Even banning the diesel will be a big blow. The solution should be organic by promoting lower costs of new electric/hybrid cars and cheaper maintenance. Also development of infrastructure.

    • avatar
      Anita Ivan

      I was thinking the same, some people will never be able to afford it (my retired parents included).

  63. avatar
    Τζινα Πολεμαρχακη

    Absolutely No way ,there are other sources to move a car much healthier than electric power. Germany has already invest many for electric cars so..this is all about,market sales and national income ,nothing more …

  64. avatar
    José Bessa da Silva

    They should be something other than what they are today by now, not in 2025. Electric, running with water, with hydrogen, whatever. Global warming does not wait until 2025…

    • avatar
      David Moody

      5 million cars = 50 Drax power stations. Sounds plausible (not).

  65. avatar
    Jorge Simões

    No !! Electricity cost will be escalated, and even that one o doesn’t have care will pay for the bill!!!

    • avatar
      Arthur Gustin

      Ahahah I pay 60€ to get a full tank of fuel and i’m able to drive 675 kilometres if I try to spare.

      With an electric, the price on kilometre drops significantly

    • avatar
      Jorge Simões

      Arthur Gustin now !! But if everyone used electricity, it will Much more expensive!!! Not only for the drivers built also for the users at home!!!

  66. avatar
    Arthur Gustin

    it’s never going to be the case but if we can reach 40% or 50% without creating blackouts it’s a win

  67. avatar
    Ivan Burrows

    Great idea, burn more fossil fuels in power stations to provide the energy to power electric cars, not really though that one through have you.

    • avatar
      Fabrice Bordier

      The aim is also to replace fossil fuel as a source of energy to produce electricity.
      I think electricity will become greener and greener.
      The main problem of electric cars will be the recycling or the batteries and the chemicals they contain.
      What kills me is that there are ways to run cars almost without fuel, and that those cars have been banned and boycotted.
      Panton engine, air compressed engine, even hydrogen and others.
      Lots of oil lobbies are behind this with the benediction of the governments who have no idea how to tax fuels if fuel is no longer necessary

    • avatar
      Fabrice Bordier

      To answer the question of debating Europe. Of course cars will not be electric in Europe in 2025. But a higher portion will be.
      Majority of cars may be electric in 2040, but I rather see 2060 really as a point of no return for fossil energy.

    • avatar
      Ivan Burrows

      Fabrice Bordier Windmills and solar panels cannot provide the global output of power needed for all industry, transport and home consumption so you are left with nuclear, is that any better than fossil fuel ?

  68. avatar
    Joao Yohanan

    Or do it Portugal style Ivan, where 60% of our electricity on average comes from renewable sources! So there is a way.

  69. avatar
    Kees Van Het Duin

    Nice suggestion. But way to little too late. In Bulgaria, 20.000 (!) people a year die from suffication due to air pollution. Bomb on Toplofikatsya and ban on all polluting ancient cars! Get the Chinese to invest in a solar park in the mountains, the size of 10.000 football fields. Allow them to produce electrical cars here at a profit. The EU will subsidise. Problem solved.

    • avatar
      Emil Panayotoff

      I don’t see how they will do that in the mountains ? The rest is not a bad idea.

    • avatar
      Kees Van Het Duin

      Hmm. wherever is free space. So much wasteland between Sofia and Plovdiv. Not or never been used. Such a park, however, is less than 2 hectares. So, if needed, there could be even more of them. Douzens? We have slowly to change the language here though..from Bulgarian to Mandarin. Bags of Yuan will be next. And I know, false protectionism will prevent it from happening. But..where would we be without ambition.

    • avatar
      Emil Panayotoff

      Hmm Bulgaria and China are very good friends historically. It’s not impossible

    • avatar
      Kees Van Het Duin

      Within a few years. On Chinese television. Boiko will promote Bulgaria. ‘The first all Mandarin speaking hub in all of Europe. Come and invest now! Reel those European consumers in! We will assist you with all you need!’ (Since now 20.000 Bulgarians a year suffocate and another 25.000,- are moving working and living abroad..Boiko does not have a plan. Like before. It sounds rediculous what I say. But still.

  70. avatar
    Emanuel Denis

    Are there enough renewable energy sources to produce clean electricity? If the answer is N O , then let the cars run with petrol . We got some electric cars on eu market since 2007 I think , like Opel Ampera , but being priced around 30.000$ who ever will buy it ?

  71. avatar
    Tzimikas Ilias

    Εάν μας αφήσουν οι φίλοι μας… αυτοί που ελέγχουν τα καύσιμα…

  72. avatar
    Despina Makrygianny

    Let’s talk about the electric car battery?how much ecological is it?what happens when it needs to be change?where it will be dropped off?

  73. avatar
    Derek Deighton

    Why pose a question like this when it technically impossible in 7 and a bit years to achieve this?

    • avatar
      Jarmo Sits

      I think the world or eu has set the goal to 2060, if i’m not mistaken, some countries wanna achieve that earlier, like switzerland or was it denmark? one of these already have like ~34%ish electric cars.

  74. avatar
    Domenico Galardo

    HELL NOT !

    If electric Car will be affordable and reliable peoples will use it by themselves in a free market system. And even then, those who like to drive a petrol car as hobby or whatever, will be free to do it.

    • avatar
      Jarmo Sits

      + electric cars mostly suck , good luck convincing people to use electric motorcycles lmao…

      what standards? electricity already has standards. Tesla owners get free electricity for life.. why do you think when charging up your car shoudl be priced differently than current electricity usage? seems like you just wanna pay more lol ? why would you pay for something wich is free ? People like you will agree to pay for oxygen soon too… fucken normies…

    • avatar
      Björn Eric Ingemar Grahn

      I menat The chargingstations very between brands. Everton usel different plugs like that cellphones in The ord days. They arena totalt ok IF onekligen driver legaly in moust EU countries. To have a var or motorcykel that drives faster than 150 is useless When max speedway amyway is Only 130kmph at The moust.

  75. avatar
    PG

    Politicians are creating a fragile society that will rely on all, electric , we have seen this week that power will be out in many places in southern US after the storms , then what will happen .
    Governments seem to only think about cities and forget that they have to provide for ALL a country , and in most cases their food and water come from the countryside and without energy there will be none .

    • avatar
      Miguel Cabrita

      As charging will happen predictably allmost at the same time by evening, when people arrive home from work, the peak of consumption will be much more higher, so the installed capacity for electricity profuction probably needs to be much higher than that.

  76. avatar
    Andrew Potts

    The big lie about electric cars is two fold 1 the carbon emissions of manufacture are never factored in to the equation of course spread over ten years because more often then not a car is scrapped after that. 2 the design model is flawed a car mostly is driven by one person at an average speed in the 20s KPH and is designed crash at 140kph. Car design should reflect of driving reality rather then false adverts. Continuing wih this model of design is not sustainable. In fact most countries without car factories should move to repair and maintenance of car stock because of the savings on emissions plus more jobs in those countries.

  77. avatar
    Patricia Smith

    I doubt the impact on those employed down the mines is factored in or the environmental impact of battery disposal

  78. avatar
    Lynne Warner

    Where are all the petrol and diesel cars going to be scrapped. Where are all the batteries for the new cars going to be scrapped? A question nobody wants to answer. And.. most of the population will be walking as electric cars are out of their price range. But maybe a walking population is easier to handle.???

  79. avatar
    Doru Beldiman

    In Romania, our priority is to get rid of corruption which is ruining us for more than 27 years! Europe is not helping us in our fight, is helping those corrupts who are leading the country!

  80. avatar
    Sheila Hounslow

    And where is all this power going to come from ? U.K. Will be in the dark soon anyway as power stations can’t cope. No one wants ugly wind turbines on Their doorstep. No one want nuclear power stations. There are no coal fired ones any more. No one wants water turbines as it upsets the wild life.( they say. The gas line comes from Russia. So upset Russian and he will turn it off. Does no one think about about these things ? Till bury your head in the sand. And drive those electric cars… well for a few miles while the electric charge lasts.

    • avatar
      Ariano Ângelo

      Do you realise that there are a lot of ways to get clean energy?

    • avatar
      Sheila Hounslow

      Ariano Ângelo yes, so let them get it

  81. avatar
    Jez Boulton

    Ok if you have a garage or driveway where it can be charged. Also unless they are solar powered they are just relocating the pollution. Yes though.

  82. avatar
    Zé Miranda

    Batteries are extremely polutant. Much more so than fossil fuel. The reason why you don’t think about this is because electric cars and solar power are quite rare nowadays, but were they to become the norm by 2025 we would have an environmental catastrophe of epic proportions on our hands.

  83. avatar
    Yannick Cornet

    What should really be done is shift all those trips that can easily be shifted to active transports first (more than 50% of trips in most cities are below 10km, which is perfectly bikeable or ebikeable, as demonstrated in Copenhagen). Then shift the bulk of the remaining trips to some form of public transport, including car-share and car-pool, all preferably electric. Then finally, switch the remaining trips to electric cars – and yes make sure recycling systems are in place for the batteries. But just changing from one car paradigm to another car paradigm is not a sustainable way forward, sorry, no.

  84. avatar
    Andrea Martano

    isn’t 2025 is too early? not enough power distribution infrastructure, charging point and available energy. Until nuclear fusion reactor become reality. 2040/2045 is a more realistic timeline. Hidrogen and hibrid petrol/electric will be the mid step.

  85. avatar
    Miguel Cabrita

    I am not in the industry, but as I know it the breakeven point to a new car built from scratch is in the millions or tens of millions of sold units. So we are expecting that the carmakers take a massive loss on cars newly intruduced plus the electric cars that need to be yet researched, without giant subsidies from the public sector to the manufacturers? Is that it? Will that cost be redeemed how, and how it is going to be socialized?

  86. avatar
    Panos Kontogiannis

    And who is going to pay for the huge investments in electric power production and distribution facilities?

  87. avatar
    Doru Istrate

    If the fuckers demanding this are buying me an electric car, then yes. If no, gtfo.

  88. avatar
    Paweł Kunio

    Definitely! My reasoning isnt based on fake ecology pretenses but rather on putting some oil suppliers out of equation.

    • avatar
      Răzvan Grigore

      A better question is: there is enough lythium in the world for this?

  89. avatar
    Vitor F Veiga

    no other way, but not only electric…hydrogen, pressurized air and other technologies. It must be open to all other options other than combustion engine, otherwise there will be a huge battery crisis then…and also allow a transition period for poorer people that can’t afford expensive electric cars…but need to move around for work and take kids to school…

  90. avatar
    Constantin Schiniotakis

    What’s the cost for recycling batteries, electric motors, transformers and transformer oils ? What’s the impact of these and of the energy used to charge the batteries ?

    • avatar
      Paolo Gazzola

      Constantin what’s the cost of pollution on Health Care?
      What’s the cost of diseases linked to pollution?

    • avatar
      Constantin Schiniotakis

      I agree with that. cooling oils for transformers are TOXIC The acids of classic batteries and the metals used for high performance batteries are both toxic and difficult to recycle. So my question is valid and needs an answer

  91. avatar
    Dino Dragovic

    if the same people who introduce that law and plan the astronomical taxation plans on it buy me one, then yes I think it should (y)

  92. avatar
    La F Ham

    Probably. But in this day and age isn’t there anyone who can design an E car that actually looks cool? XD

    • avatar
      Tim Nick Knight

      What, there are many cool electric cars, they just cost a lot more. . Look at Tesla

  93. avatar
    Paul Vincent

    Technology is improving exponentially…but 7years is insufficient to choose best standards and complete infrastructure needed…internal combustion engines will be with us for at least 15 years…probably longer.

  94. avatar
    Franck Legon

    Just imagine this same street with all the cars lined to crossed charging plugs, needing locks on it not to be taken by someone else, and the mess it would be, you have your answer.

    • avatar
      Don Bates

      Chances are most will drive away with the lead attached!

  95. avatar
    Lynne Warner

    Why won’t any one of these brain boxes tell me what is going to happen to the billions of scrapped cars and batteries, not to mention the batteries of the electric cars?

  96. avatar
    Antoine Che

    Air cars would not use polluting batteries but TATA Motors dropped the launching of its air car several years ago when the director of the project got suicided…

  97. avatar
    Panos Kontogiannis

    Big NO WAY! To do that the countries will have to build new power plants and the taxpayers will be called to pay for them or the price of electricity will go up. And unless these plants are nuclear (there is no practical way to do that until 2025) there is no point in doing this change.

  98. avatar
    Andrew Potts

    All cars electric is the wet dream of the auto industry. Changing the worlds car fleet in a decade. Good for Germany but not good for the planet

  99. avatar
    Jez Boulton

    Not until all Electric is from renewable sources and people other than those with private drives and garages can charge them securely.

  100. avatar
    Emrah Can

    If we do it now , we will pollute mucg more because many countries still use coal power plants .

  101. avatar
    Samu Tandorf

    If people will still own private cars than yes. Unless they stay out of the cities.

  102. avatar
    Mugur Cristian

    Yes, that will be awsome to be done till 2025. But i guess most likely will be around 2040

  103. avatar
    Luigi Fre

    No, because electricity comes from either fossil fuels or the materials used to build plants that harvest alternative sources of energy likely lead to more geo-ecological damage and pollution than their use would prevent.

  104. avatar
    Jude De Froissard

    No….i am sure there are other ways of ‘motorising” a car…..if they allow it..Electrical cars will create another kind of pollution with their batteries and with the increase in demand of electricity.

  105. avatar
    Kisara Perera

    The work of the product must be left to the market and only the market. Government should and shall not get involved with the decisions of consumers. Their only job is protecting the consumer by implementing the absolute minimum regulation needed.

  106. avatar
    Cãlin

    They should if it would be possible (although it isn’t), but it wouldn’t even be healthy (for economy) to have such sudden changes…

  107. avatar
    Nuno

    Only if it comes with at least proportional investment in renewable electricity

  108. avatar
    Julia

    Green energy and peace on earth go hand in hand. Lets phase out petrol, oil and gas and phase in green energy.

  109. avatar
    Chris

    What will be the real impact to enviroment ? ie batteries production is not that much “green”.

    • avatar
      Paulius

      You read 1 article from oil industry funded wack job news source and you now you know the REALity

  110. avatar
    Yordan Vasilev

    No, because it will happen with the copper as it happened with the oil and with the gas. We need of verification.

    • avatar
      João

      A lithium battery is more pollute than a car. And in France must of electricity is nuclear.

    • avatar
      Στέργιος

      To the degree that we are aware today lithium is not increasing the concentration of atmospheric CO2 and thus affecting the planet’s temperature. We solve problems with existing knowledge step by step. Using CO2 emitting transportation today is unacceptable.

  111. avatar
    Denis

    What is the real environmental impact of the electric cars, of making their batteries?

    • avatar
      Paulius

      The real impact is hidden deep by The Illuminati, but I am estimating >1 billion

  112. avatar

    No. It would be a catastrophe. An environmental disaster. L

  113. avatar
    Robin

    Yes. We have the technology,we have the capacity to plan and develop accordingly. We would also have total leadership in this field, meaning our companies will have edge over their competitors.

  114. avatar
    David

    It won’t be possible because there are not enough raw materials, but it would be ideal.

  115. avatar
    Mircea

    And finally were is free market? More and more EU Directive represents a huge advantage for development countries Economy ?!?! Who will win money from this decision?

    But technically it is impossible and also electric cars means another dangerous waste. What measure was done for this waste?

  116. avatar
    Charles

    Better focus on important things like the ferrying of African people to Europe illegally rather then stupid things such as this and keeping summer time!! EU get REAL!!

    10/29/2018 Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, a social democratic MEP from Finland, has responded to this comment.

    10/29/2018 Michael Downing, author of the book Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time, has responded to this comment.

    • avatar
      Iván

      good luck when europe would be a desert like Africa :D

  117. avatar
    Ivan

    While the energy to power them is still generated in fossil fuel power stations what would be the point ?

  118. avatar
    Andy

    Just do the same thing China does. That will change already a lot and is rather hard to achieve.

  119. avatar
    Andy

    That would be nice but unrealistic. We should rather do it like the Chinese. They have a very hard EV mandate. To focus on cars alone is not enough. Buses and Trucks are really important.

  120. avatar
    Tristan

    No, all cars should by then be zero emission vehicles (there are indeed other alternatives, although battery electric vehicles (BEV) are the most widely available option today) and there should be less vehicles on our roads (through car or ride sharing and better public transport and infrastructure for bikes).

  121. avatar
    Tiziano

    Make that 2040 and it may actually happen (obviously just in high income countries)

  122. avatar
    Julia

    And solar energy for our electricity. Earthship houses prove we don’t need to buy energy resources from Russia, Saudi Arabia etc. We can have free energy for our entire house. Oil resource corporations have made enough money. Begone with them. Let’s update humanity for the better.

  123. avatar
    Jay

    They should, yes… But we face a great challenge until then: producing and storing electricity without further environmental impact.

    Where are we going to get all that electricity?

    Diversifying modes of transport and diversifying types of energy source used, not only electric: hybrids and mixed (i.e., solar), biofuel… Is the best strategy to face future challenges.

  124. avatar
    Martin

    no, they should not. I prefer efficient diesel car.

  125. avatar
    Christophe

    Off grid cars with generic batteries that are available Tax free? It will never happen. The government’s will be forced to licence batteries so consumers pay a premium to drive their cars.

  126. avatar
    Amalia

    Yes but only, if of renewable rules

  127. avatar
    Николай

    Yes with no taxes and governmental help for the users

  128. avatar
    João

    Not until supply chain issues have been solved. It is ridiculous that we are pushing for electric cars as the morally superior choice, when most of the cobalt comes from mines in the DRC, where labour laws are lax and it has been proved that children are working in the mines. Equally, as we usually do, we are just passing the environmental hazards of our consumerism to the poorer countries, because mining is not a clean business and there’s no way this technology will be benefiting those countries any time soon. This is the most hypocritical idea of this decade. Hybrid is a much better choice.

  129. avatar
    Gustav

    The Swedish government want to replace all vehicles that run on fossil fuels by 2030.

  130. avatar
    Kimmo

    Preferably yes. It’s just that reality will hit us in the face. 1) As mentioned in the article, the charging infra is a problem. 2) Electric vehicles are too expensive to become mainstream in only a few years. 3) Cold weather shortens the range to unacceptable levels in the north. 4) There are different opinions about the environmental friendliness of electric vehicles over their entire lifecycle if manufacturing and disposal are included. Electrifying traffic will happen as evolution, not revolution.

  131. avatar
    Munteanu

    If the overall emissions are smaller then conventional ones, yes

  132. avatar
    Olivier

    I don t think that electric cars are the solution

  133. avatar
    Sheila

    No defiantly not. It’s all wrong . The way the batteries are mined, and no one knows how to dispose of them either,
    It’s costs more to the environment t to produce the electricity. It’s all wrong mindedness. Stop pushing electric cars in our faces, resits .
    hydro power is a better solution. And must be researched more . Stop this madness.

  134. avatar
    Marius

    Going hybrid before full electric is a better solution. We have to give logistic industry time to adjust to the new needs.

  135. avatar
    George

    If we produce electricity by using oil, no

  136. avatar
    Julia

    Yes please. How will poor people afford them? Subsidise the cars and not the oil industry. Subsidise green energy-with our own contributed money in the form of taxes. We are being fleeced from all angles. We are being forced to destroy our planet for energy giants profits, by people we pay to budget our own money contributions. Use our collective contributions to benefit society and stop destroying the planet we live on.

  137. avatar
    Sheila

    Have you researched Lithium batteries ? How they are mined. And how no one knows how to discard them, if not please do. Thank you

  138. avatar
    Julia

    I just researched Lithium batteries and found Tesla recycles batteries. Quote: “All good things must come to an end, but lithium-ion batteries believe in life after death. When they’re truly at the end of their usefulness, the batteries can be taken apart and their bits reused. Tesla, for example, recycles the cooling fluid, wires and electronics in its batteries. The rest is smashed to smithereens, melted down, separated into component metals and recycled.” What other information do you have in case I missed something? We have to remember there are solutions to all problems if we want to find them. No need to force citizens via their tax contributions to enable the killing of Syrians (and others) over a US-backed or Russia-backed pipeline for energy oligarchs profits, pollute the sea with oil spills, damage our planet.

  139. avatar
    Monika

    I hope so but the price has to be right also

  140. avatar
    Jevgeni

    What it will solve? Production of electricity will not give any benefits. According to studies, electric car will bring benefits after 3-5 years of using same car, depending on how the electricity is produced in the country (many countries still use oil, coal), and the batteries – another dirty secret of electric car).

  141. avatar
    Júlio

    I wouldn’t say electric since there are some caveats, but should definitely be hybrids. And not in ’25. 2022 at the most.

  142. avatar
    HJo

    On the supply side Electricity will be one day for free, there is so many ways generating it… You just need the fantasy to see us all living in houses full of solar panels. And the technology develops fast. On the usage side, the electric vehicle is so much simpler in production hence so much cheaper. But also the time of ownership comes to an end and we will buy Electric transport as a service. Development makes big steps also in Battery technology what is really the current bottleneck. To answer the question, yes, one fossil powered car needs to go after the other… and Benziner and Diesel must be as uncool as smoking already is.

  143. avatar
    Ludwig

    Is not realistic, at least it needs 20 years

  144. avatar
    Maria

    Electric cars are not a solution, right now.

  145. avatar
    Joey

    Why this question? Is only driven by populism and a sentimentalism. For what do we have intelligent scientists and research institutions. These must be asked and not Mrs. and Mr. Mustermann. This will only continue to cause uncertainty and our economy is even more damaged! The world laughs at Europe and is happy!

  146. avatar
    Dionìs

    Yes, and all should be Made in China

  147. avatar
    Robert

    ha ha … no where to charge them .. how about 2040

  148. avatar
    João

    This is Utopia. Not every city, area, has the infrastructure for this to happen. For example, where i leave i do not have any solution to charge the car during the night.
    Also, by making some “random date” goal for Everything to be electric also brings the question – what will the random Joe do with his old car and also how will he get the money to buy a new one? will it be given for free? doubt that. Some people work hard to get 1 car and they only can afford a old car…
    I think legislation should stop being done by ideology and start being based on reality.

  149. avatar
    Paulo

    not to mention the batteries for cars (which are not polluting at all)
    Or the origin of electricity…

  150. avatar
    Christopher

    No. Electric cars are not the solution to environmental problems. They are merely a start.

  151. avatar
    Sheila

    Absolutely not . Their footprint leaves more harm on the environment. It’s completely the wrong direction to go . NO ELECTRIC CARD !

  152. avatar
    Luigi

    Public transportation is the solution. Articulated, widespread, inter-connected in cities, their surrounding burghs, and via trains with regional, national, international links that are easy and affordable, especially between EU cities with more night trains, too. Many people are now fed up with the low-cost airlines, what with bags, check-in, commute to/fro airport, so incentivize and promote!

  153. avatar
    Mario

    impossible, dangerous, not effective for the environment and really bad for the economy

  154. avatar
    Paul

    Depends on what system is in place…current (no pun intended!) EVs either plug in or rechargeable and hybrids are a dead end. Hydrogen fuel cells seem a better bet, but have own issues….technology still needs to improve.

  155. avatar
    Enric

    The all electrc cars Will bring poverty to the europeans. The world is in the hands of a group (Bildenberg ? ) that moves governments and media at their will. Examples:the climate change, the fight against fósil energy, the coronavirus, etc….

  156. avatar
    Olivier

    Electrical cars may be not the right choise

  157. avatar
    Yannick

    Every city should be bike-friendly like Copenhagen by 2025. It’s cheap, it’s healthy, it’s pleasant for users and it’s loved by kids. Most trips in cities are 5km or less. 66% of Copenhageners cycle to work or school every day. The rest takes public transport. The car – electric or not – is too big, too dangerous and has too high carbon footprint – electric or not. It should be thought of as the last option in a mobility package. Don’t let the car industry dictate their vision: electric bikes are by far a better alternative than electric cars.

    • avatar
      Kimmo

      This should be complemented by an extremely efficient public transport system for seasons and weather when cycling isn’t an option. I’m thinking of winter in the Nordics, US, Canada… Also, “all cars electric by 2025” runs into practical problems: there’s simply not enough manufacturing capacity or purchasing power for this to realize. In urban environments, EVs are steadily increasing, but their range is at present too short to be feasible in large, sparsely populated areas.

    • avatar
      Hugo

      first. Not all cities are flat. Come to Porto and you understand that bike friendly is hard. But the public transport should be efficient.

  158. avatar
    Goncalo

    No.
    Lithium batteries also pollute the environment

  159. avatar
    Rob

    Considering the worlds total supply of cobalt will run out by 2025, I’d say no. Cobalt is a necessary part of making the batteries for electric vehicles

  160. avatar
    James

    If its that and suffocating or drowning yes. My father told me by the time I got a car they’d all be electric 50 years ago. Not moved on much and people won’t unless forced.

  161. avatar
    Kimmo

    Borislav has a very valid point. What if electricity turns out not to be the winning technology? Fuel cells are more efficient, and their development is accelerating, eventually bringing the price down. Another point rarely mentioned is raw material for the batteries – lithium mainly comes from China, and already an EV manufacturer has had to interrupt production as the coronavirus epidemic has slowed down raw material imports. It’s never a good idea to build a global technology dependent on a monopoly.

  162. avatar
    Calin

    It would be great if they would be more affordable and had more autonomy, but first I’d ask: should the defense, the construction and agriculture industries become greener no more by a quarter so cars would be insignificant…?

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