Electric cars to be cheaper than ICE vehicles in Europe by 2026, claims study

Electric cars will become cheaper than fossil fuel-powered vehicles across Europe by 2026. Also, electric vehicles could represent 100% of new car sales by 2035, claims a study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance or BNEF.

It claims that electric cars will represent 50% of new car sales by 2030 and 85% by 2035 if the government policies remain the same as now.

However, electric car sales can contribute 100% to the new car sales by 2035, given the lawmakers impose stringent vehicular emission norms and ramp up other policies in order to stimulate the EV market such as a faster roll-out of EV charging points.

As the study says, the car manufacturers are shifting massively towards electric and hybrid powertrains in an attempt to bring the average fleet emissions under the European Union mandated limit of 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre. Otherwise, these automakers will face huge penalties. With this strategy in place, electric sedans and SUVs are expected to be as cheap by 2026, as the internal combustion engine-powered vehicles are now.

However, the smaller electric cars will have to wait until 2027 to come to price parity with the internal combustion engine-powered cars. In the light van category, electric vans will be less expensive than diesel-powered vans by 2025, while heavy electric vans will become cheaper than diesel-powered heavy vans from 2026.

Commenting on the findings of the study, which was commissioned by the European clean transport campaign group Transport and Environment, Julia Poliscanova, Senior Director for Vehicles and E-mobility at Transport and Environment, said that electric vehicles will be a reality for all new buyers within six years. "They will be cheaper than combustion engines for everyone, from the man with a van in Berlin to the family living in the Romanian countryside," Poliscanova further added.

According to the research, the drop in the cost of electric vehicle batteries and the use of dedicated production lines for EVs by the OEMs will drive the reduction of price for the new energy vehicles. These factors will play a key role in bringing down the price of the Evs than the fossil fuel-powered vehicles, on average, even before the application of the subsidies by the government and authorities.

Currently, an electric sedan costs nearly $49,000 before paying tax in 2020. By 2026, the electric sedans are expected to be sold at half that price, while the conventional fuel-powered vehicles too will be sold at the same price range by that time.