It’s not the first time of course. Something similar happened with banking, where the US got stuck in the mid-20th century with people still using paper checks, no access to instant digital transfers, etc.
The EU, for all its faults, is a far more competetive environment than the US and has been for decades. Air travel, telecoms, and banking are far more competetive than the US. The US favors cartel systems so that there are a small number of airlines, telecom providers, foor companies, etc. Strict competition rules make things like credit cards much cheaper (no "points" etc because there's no money to fund them). So all those products are much cheaper in the EU than in the US and more dynamic too.
These higher prices make the GDP look bigger and the stock market too: in the EU that extorted money is returned as a consumer surplus.
Meanwhile Chinese EVs are banned, and even Tesla FSD is banned in most of Europe.
I agree that Chinese EV cars are all over Europe.
AFAIU only Ford and Tesla have it currently?
Camera-only systems like the Tesla cannot handle some weather conditions and should not allowed on European roads.
BMW can self drive on autobahns in europe.
So none of them can do it properly anywhere :D
LIDAR wouldn't help in case of water/rain, quite the opposite. It does help for funny painting.
The real comparison is compared to most human drivers - distracted on their phones and smoking cigarettes, drunk driving or high on marijuana or laughing gas, etc.
Maybe I misunderstand you, but I don’t think this is true. On the contrary: AFAIK there isn’t a single European country that does this.
Which countries are you thinking of?
It's crazy that the EU criticise Trump for the ridiculous tariffs, but then do near the same thing themselves.
And unlike Trump, we cannot vote them out.
Tesla benefited <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-19/tesla-vol...> from Canada cutting import duty on Chinese EVs, by grabbing most of the slots.
Are you actually in the EU? If so, are you blind? Chinese EVs self-evidently are not banned.
What? BYD, NIO and others are to be found everywhere in Germany. I literally see one parked on the other side of the street looking out of my window right now.
The lower tariff on hybrid cars is even dumber, why do we want more polluting cars?
So I personally am absolutely not afraid of the European brands disappearing somehow because China makes them quite well and affordably now, too. This previously already happened with Japanese and Korean ones as well and, to be honest, European brands just keep delivering exciting new cars that get your heart pumping and they still do. Meanwhile it hardly ever happens with the Asian ones. It does, but it's still... not the same kind excitement.
The Model Y still sells relatively well when compared to individual models, but every other manufacturer has a lot more than 2 models for sale. The VW sister companies have roughly 18 models that compete with the Y. The Y will outsell any of the 18, but if you add the 18 together, it does not.
P.S. Your link is broken.
I live in North America (Canada) and I own a "EV charging station". Most of time I just call it "the electric outlet in the garage".
Also, if you measure the active time, the "charge time" is ridiculously small: 15 seconds to plug, 15 seconds to unplug (and go do something else between those times). Beat that gas stations.
In North America, that's including Canada? 1.3 million EVs so far this year. Minus 21% YTD-26 vs YTD-25.
Perhaps American drivers are putting off their purchase of an electric car until the launch of the flying roadster?
- The infrastructure isn't there yet. I can get gas anywhere, but charging stations may be few and far between. The median salary in my area is mid $100k, and 50k pop. and I see Teslas and EV'S everywhere. But despite that the town has only 1 public charging station.
- For apartment dwellers, who don't have the option of charging at home or work, why bother putting up with the anxiety of trying to find a charger?
- The early adopters feel like they got burned. Lessees like low maintenance, and the batteries tend to deterioriate. Buyers get into the same situation, but have no equity, and it's hard to justify dropping $$$ for a new battery when they can put that into a new car.
- There's a lot of nothing in between major towns and cities. If it's super cold out, will you make it the 120mi/193km to your destination?
Tesla benefited <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-19/tesla-vol...> from Canada cutting import duty on Chinese EVs, by grabbing most of the slots.
Also consider the cost for fuel vs electricity (with electricity you pay 1/5 vs gasoline if you charge at home).
20% margin is nicer than 5% margin
Deutschlandticket is 55 GBP / month and valid across all German regional public transport https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschlandticket. ICE is excluded, but if you are commuting via ICE...
Zurich pass, valid on all public transport is 800 CHF per year.
(Unusually, not Thatcher; even Thatcher was against privatising the railways.)
Arguably it was kind of the same problem as Brexit; the Tories expected to lose in 1992, so felt free-er to put all sorts of stupid shit in their manifesto, including privatising the railways. Then they won. Surprisingly, they did not learn their lesson.
> Not even factoring in safety which becomes a priority if you have a family.
Huh? Are you claiming that trains are more unsafe than cars?
Especially young men buy these clunkers because they can't afford anything else. Young women more often get better cars as a gift from their parents, who want to make sure she doesn't have to depend on getting a ride from some creep in a clunker.
Because not everybody lives in a city.
But EVs are critical to the environment and we have to do something.
Also the biggest issue is not EVs, its the super unclear and slow transition and borderline fighting against it which would allow for cheap EVs to exist due to scaling laws.
Also, these people are at the brink with all the bullshit from Brussels and let's not forget these are the same people that can fire up their tractors, load them up with manure and have a delivery to Brussels as they have done so in the past already.
Back when I was poor as an European I just commuted by bus. Then I bought my first car for the equivalent of 1600 Euros (in 2014 at that) and while I was saving 30 minutes on my commute daily, I was spending a lot on fuel and insurance.
The clanker lasted about a year before it started burning too much oil and making weird rattling noises from the engine. Long term the purchase alone was less then half of all expenses over the course of that year.
I don't believe it's reasonable to buy a 1000 Euro car if that's the only thing you can afford, because the expenses will just keep piling up.
Even ifts the cheap car which you replace in 1-3 years
This is neither a pro nor anti EV point though, it's not related to that. "Needing a car" says nothing about whether it's an EV or not.
the 10 cheapest new cars you can buy in the UK in 2026
https://petrolblog.com/articles/cheapest-new-cars-uk-2026
This includes 4 or 5 EVs and a couple of hybrids.
Today in Ireland, you can get a VW Polo for 25k... or an id.Polo (the electric version) for 20k. Now, there are a couple of things going on there; the id.Polo is benefiting from a 3500 eur grant, and the Polo has about 1000 eur of VRT on it (electric cars are exempt). But _even ignoring subsidies_ they come in at about the same price. And, presumably, give it a couple of years, and the electric version will be solidly cheaper.
But, can you explain why "I don't see this ever being reality with EVs" ? Not just "not now" but "not ever". Wow.
If vehicle X is the same price or cheaper than vehicle Y when new, then given ten years and the resulting resale price drop, it sells used for the same price or cheaper than vehicle Y, not so?
I don't see the confounding factors as permanent, merely due to EVs being fairly new on the market. But now the new ones are plentiful, and the same price or cheaper as the ICE equivalent across market segments. So the rest is only a matter of time.
Change does not happen overnight. No-one is expecting it to. Arguing as if it's otherwise is straw-manning.
I had to replace the shitbox I bought for 5k euros 10 years ago, the same model/year with twice the kms now costs 9k+. And I consider that the bare minimum in term of road worthiness and safety, cars have been a luxury for a long time