Thread

EV Sales Are Booming in Europe with Gasoline at $10 a Gallon

79 points · 150 comments · blondie9x

gambiting · 1790547426 · focus · HN ↗
I mean, I feel like even if petrol wasn't as expensive as it is, the sales would be booming anyway, maybe a sliver slower - for the simple reason that affordable EVs are now here and they are pretty damn good now. After years and years of lamenting "where are the EVs for your average Joe Smith" - they are now here. Funnily enough, they aren't made by Volkswagen or Peugeot, but they are here anyway. And Europe's cheapest new car - Dacia Spring - is an EV.
1. diath · 1790550341 · focus · HN ↗
  You're delusional if you think an EV is affordable for an average person. The average person barely makes enough to cover rent, food, bills and save a little money - 15-30k EUR for an entry level EV is out of question. Meanwhile most people can afford to get a late 90s/early 00s used car that will actually get the job done.
  1. SupremumLimit · 1790551145 · focus · HN ↗
    Average fleet age in EU looks to be around 13 years so when you say "most people", you're likely off by 10-15 years in terms of second hand purchases. Greece might be the only EU country that gets close to what you said. I get the point about affordability but it's good to base discussion on facts.
    Also, EVs have been around for quite a few years now so it is no longer necessary to buy them new.
    <a href="https://www.acea.auto/publication/report-vehicles-on-european-roads-2025/" rel="nofollow">https://www.acea.auto/publication/report-vehicles-on-europea...
    rightnutwingjob · 1790553208 · focus · HN ↗
    Buying an EV outside of the factory warranty period is not an experiment I’d be interested in participating.
    What do you do when, say, the insulation on the motor’s windings disintegrates over night on a whole production run of thousands of cars.
    Or the batteries turn out to a fail at some yet to be revealed number of charge cycles.
    api · 1790553548 · focus · HN ↗
    These are pretty rare failure modes.
    ICE engines eat themselves in many more different kinds of weird ways: timing chains and belts, coolant leaks, any number of problems with valves and actuators. They're extraordinarily complex devices and it's a testament to engineering genius (and persistence) that we've made them this reliable. But they fail much more often than batteries or motors. They have many more moving parts. It's just the devil we know.
    I've got two EVs. Basically zero problems. I've known one or two people who have had issues, but never with the drive train. Always something dumb like the "infotainment system" or (for a Tesla owning friend) stupid buzzing and vibration they couldn't make go away and stupid problems with door handles.
    The Tesla weirdness is part of why I went with Nissans. They're 100% normal cars except for the electric drive train. All the other parts can be purchased at AutoZone and everything else can be worked on by a normal mechanic.
    There's some mechanics in my area that have been learning how to do stuff with EVs like aftermarket battery upgrades on older models, but it's a bit expensive. Mine are 5 and 13 years old respectively and both batteries are fine. The 5yo one is the same as the day it was bought. The latter's lost some capacity but still very usable as a city car.
    CobaltFire · 1790559837 · focus · HN ↗
    We picked up a used 2022 Leaf S+ a while back and it's been amazing.
    Also just about the only shade tree mechanic EV. Even swapping a battery is doable by the typical car guy. Rebuilding one isn't much harder due to no cooling.
    rightnutwingjob · 1790848674 · focus · HN ↗
    > These are pretty rare failure modes.
    You don’t know that. None of the most recent EV sales are even ten years old yet.
    We don’t know what the common failure modes are.

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