EU needs to navigate public opinion on European E-car’s road to reality

Running on empty

A staggering 51% of people stated that they would not buy an EV (Figure 1) according to Eurofound’s upcoming Living and Working in the EU (LWE) 2025 e-survey. 

The most significant barrier to mass EV adoption is financial. At a time when households are grappling with a persistent cost-of-living crisis, the price of electric vehicles remains prohibitive for many.   

President von der Leyen said it herself in her State of the Union speech(opens in new tab)This link opens in a new tab when announcing the initiative: 'millions of Europeans want to buy affordable European cars.'

Over 60% of Europeans(opens in new tab)This link opens in a new tab cite high prices as the main disadvantage of EVs. This is compounded by broader financial pressures: nearly a third of European households are struggling to make ends meet, as LWE 2024 revealed.  

These difficulties in making ends meet are also seen clearly in the number of people who expect to face difficulties paying for their car running costs over the next three months: on average 19% say this is the case, with more people reporting it as a problem in rural areas (21%) than in urban areas (17%). As the costs of running an electric car are potentially lower, these are the exact people who would benefit from access to the EV market, if concerns about charging infrastructure and purchase price were addressed. 

That said, little over 1 in 10 would buy an EV if it were the same price or cheaper than a conventional engine-powered car. Of those who report a willingness to pay more, the greatest number (20%) reported that they would be willing to pay a 20% price premium for an electric vehicle relative to a conventional car. Once that premium hits 30%, however, willingness to pay drops sharply.  

Stuck in neutral

Despite these financial challenges, public support for monetary incentives, such as tax credits or price bonuses, is mixed. While 56% of Europeans are in favour, a significant 44% are either ambivalent or opposed. This lack of clear endorsement is again more evident in rural areas (Figure 3) where reliance on cars is highest.  

Rural residents tend to drive longer distances, potentially increasing worries that an electric car would run out of battery before they reach their destination or a charging point – a feeling known as ‘range anxiety’. Added to this concern of inadequate charging infrastructure outside of major towns and cities, research(opens in new tab)This link opens in a new tab shows that green transition policies can fuel a rural-urban divide, leaving rural residents with a sentiment of being left-behind in a process expected to be ‘just’.  

Revved up

While in future it may be the case that green power drives Europe’s economy, today it seems that conditions are not yet in place for people to move on from the enduring engine.

The planned 2035 ban on new combustion engine cars(opens in new tab)This link opens in a new tab – designed to move the green transition up a gear – has been met with significant public resistance, building on top of grievances already expressed by the car industry and some national governments. Only one in five Europeans support the proposed ban, while a significant 42% are 'strongly opposed'. This opposition is even more pronounced in rural communities, where as much as half of the residents are against the measure. 

Sectoral slowdown

These attitudes are starting to show real impacts in Europe’s automotive sector.   

While the number of fully electric vehicles grew tenfold between 2019 and 2024, the annual growth rate plummeted from a peak of 85% to just 32% last year, according to Eurostat(opens in new tab)This link opens in a new tab.  

This echoes key concerns explored in Eurofound’s briefing note Employment in the EU’s automotive sector earlier this year, such as: the slowdown of EV sales; intensifying international competition; delayed technological investments; and the looming threat of large-scale redundancies.  

Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) recently revealed that, for the first time in several years, large company restructuring events linked to the green transition have resulted in a net loss of jobs (Figure 6).  

This downturn has been largely driven by a decline in employment related to ‘electrification’, which led to a spike of 21,334 lob losses in 2024 alone. The greatest share of ‘electrification’ cases recorded in the ERM (34%) were linked to electric cars. This trend is further evidenced by recent research noting automotive sector net jobs losses of 13,142 due to EV sales slowdown and competition increases. Clearly something needs to be done to prevent this proclaimed ‘pillar of our economy(opens in new tab)This link opens in a new tab’ from crumbling.  

The road ahead

The European Commission’s Small Affordable Cars initiative needs to prioritise affordability – it’s right there in the title. The E-car vision is steering Europe in the right direction, but it needs to acknowledge the major roadblock that is the public’s practical scepticism surrounding policies that fail to address the real barriers to EV adoption – a scepticism that is less about opposition to environmental goals and more about a hesitancy to accept policies that simply don’t reflect Europeans’ lived realities.   

This won’t be easy. Neither the carrot (financial incentives) nor the stick (combustion engine ban) have so far gained much ground, all while the European automotive industry continues to suffer. This suggests that significant efforts must be made, and novel, inclusive policies need to be adopted.  

In her State of the Union speech, President von der Leyen spoke of an initiative to build a clean, affordable, European E-car that would carry Europe to an electric future; here’s hoping it will have the range to get us there. 

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