EV sales soar in main European markets as drivers shun expensive petrol

aakyuu about 5 hours ago 40 commentsRead Article on reuters.com

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Discussion (40 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

jqpabc123•about 5 hours ago

The big winner from the Iran war thus far --- China.

Whether Israel is a real winner is yet to be determined.

There is no significant, strategic benefit to the USA despite spending at least $50 billion thus far --- not counting the cost of inflated fuel prices.

Symbiote•about 3 hours ago

> Last week the German automotive trade body said restructuring in the industry and new investment was paying off, as every second electric car sold in Europe was now made in Germany.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/20/electric...

whatevaa•about 2 hours ago

China has been winning since Trump took office second time. They are winning by doing... nothing :)

slaw•31 minutes ago

China is advancing for the last 25 years, Trump or no Trump.

kylehotchkiss•about 3 hours ago

Well, we stopped hearing about the files. That's kinda a benefit to some people?

a_shovel•about 2 hours ago

The next administration needs to mandate the big American auto companies produce more EVs in more models in order to save them from the irrelevance they seemingly desire and arguably deserve.

melling•about 1 hour ago

You’re part of the problem, not the solution. There’s an entire political backlash against EVs because of mandates. The Trump Administration actually prevented California from having EV quotas.

Simply let in EVs from China and let American car companies go out of business.

ManuelKiessling•37 minutes ago

I say this as someone who owns two EV cars, zero ICE cars, and loves everything about owning and driving EVs: it baffles me how quickly and noticeably consumers shift their preferences; I think I read something along the lines of „for the average German commuter, the petrol price spike means 6 euros plus per week in spending“ — and that is enough for so many people to go „okay screw it I’m switching to new technology for my planned purchase“?

I mean, great that it happens, but yeah, I‘m baffled.

izacus•10 minutes ago

The second part is the fact that domestic brands all came out with good EVs and many people are installing home solar which makes savings even more drastic.

bamboozled•10 minutes ago

It’s the stress around it, not the current price. That’s what people are replacing.

If I’m trying to plan for the future in a world where conflicts this destructive are permanently on the menu, I’m not going to ever buy an ICE car again. No one wants to be at the mercy of anyone else where possible and as someone who only owns ICE cars, it’s been very stressful few weeks.

jesterson•about 3 hours ago

I wonder what way of thinking these people exercise. They think electricity prices are somehow shielded from price going up?

barbazoo•about 2 hours ago

ICE cars use energy from close to 100% oil. As long as your electrical grid is more diverse than that, you're already better off.

0cf8612b2e1e•about 1 hour ago

Exactly, electricity generation is already diversified, so it naturally gets somewhat shielded from shocks. Energy companies can burn wood if they get truly desperate, but I can only fill up my car with gasoline.

peterlada•about 2 hours ago

What? Where? In face that statement is not true pretty much everywhere. 50% of electricity in Hungary is nuclear. 80% in France. 50% coal in Poland, 30 % solar in Spain.

supercheetah•about 1 hour ago

You should reread their post. You're proving their point.

thebruce87m•18 minutes ago

Here’s my way of thinking: charging overnight on a smart tariff means my cost per mile is a quarter of what it used to be. It could go up by 3x and I’d still save.

triceratops•about 3 hours ago

In places where electricity generation is primarily nuclear, solar, hydro, wind, or geothermal? Yeah pretty much.

In most countries electric utilities have either regulated rates or are public-owned. They don't increase prices willy-nilly.

ZeroGravitas•about 2 hours ago

If you have an internet connected charger, which is standard in some countries, you can be decoupled from gas prices long before the gas gets phased out of the grid by charging when the grid is cheap and clean, even if gas is still being used for peakers. A simple timer will also often do the job, but you get even lower prices if you help the grid out by letting it dictate the exact time to start charging.

codeduck•about 2 hours ago

It's not about price; it's hedging against the very real risk of petrol rationing and shortages. An EV can charge from any source, and in Europe a lot of power is sourced from non-oil sources

whatevaa•about 2 hours ago

No. But there is more control than with petrol. An if you have more charger, could balance charginf during off-peak cheaper hours.

Can't do anything about petrol. Pay or gtfo.

jjtheblunt•about 1 hour ago

i rarely (as a 12 year ev driver) see discussions mention you just get multiple times more distance per dollar, as a consumer, with an EV over ICE. (and i like both....it's just what i have measured having both)

measurablefunc•about 5 hours ago

These are just flashes in a pan. The material math for EVs is not viable.

jqpabc123•about 5 hours ago

I'll bet your math conveniently ignores the fact that the supply of petroleum is inherently limited and subject to disruption for political and other "non-material" reasons..

measurablefunc•about 3 hours ago

It's not a political statement, just basic physics & chemistry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEkIh2PcSYE

diablozzq•about 3 hours ago

Your own YouTube link refutes your conclusion. in the first few sentences he states “The problem is not with EVs it’s with mandates”

EVs are fine,

yes they are still limited in some cases.

zug_zug•about 4 hours ago

I don't think "material math" applies to things that are huge luxury/status symbol purchases. Otherwise we'd all be driving 2005 corollas.

And as status-symbol or identity statement, being anti-oil (or anti beholden on America, Russia, Iran, etc) seems like a pretty good one.

measurablefunc•about 3 hours ago

I am not making any political statements, it's all basic physics & material science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEkIh2PcSYE

zug_zug•about 2 hours ago

I've watched plenty of youtube videos, I'm not gonna watch a 10 minute video from somebody I've never heard of and treat is as a good source. It's bad form to post that here multiple times instead of just citing whatever actual published sources.

Especially when EV vehicles are already working and taking over the market.

onraglanroad•about 2 hours ago

There was no physics in that. It was 10 minutes of incoherent rambling.

How do people find this convincing? Is it a new fashion?

ManuelKiessling•18 minutes ago

Global copper reserves are about 980 million tonnes, with 1.5 billion tonnes of identified resources and 2024 mine production of about 23 million tonnes.

A conventional car uses about 23 kg of copper and a battery-electric car about 83 kg, a difference of roughly 60 kg per vehicle.

With more than 17 million EVs sold in 2024, that implies about 1.4 million tonnes of copper embodied in those vehicles, or about 1.0 million tonnes more copper than comparable conventional cars would have used; applying the same assumptions to the current global passenger-car fleet implies roughly 120 million tonnes total or 87 million tonnes incremental copper for an all-BEV fleet.

Separately, the IEA says that under today’s policy settings and announced projects, copper faces an implied 30% mined-supply shortfall in 2035, while expanded recycling could reduce new mine needs for copper by about 35% by 2050.

USGS copper reserves / resources / mine production https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2025/mcs2025-copper.pdf

USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025 landing page https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/mcs2025

IEA Global EV Outlook 2025 – trends in electric car markets https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2025/trends-in...

IEA Global EV Outlook 2025 – full report page https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2025

IEA Global EV Outlook 2025 – PDF https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/7ea38b60-3033-42a6-...

IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 – overview for copper shortfall / recycling https://www.iea.org/reports/global-critical-minerals-outlook...

IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 – executive summary https://www.iea.org/reports/global-critical-minerals-outlook...

IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 – PDF https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/ef5e9b70-3374-4caa-...

International Copper Association – copper intensity in electrification of transport https://internationalcopper.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2...

peterlada•about 2 hours ago

Geez, Hillsdale College. Worldwide authority on all economics from the theological perspective. Congrats on picking information sources.

measurablefunc•about 1 hour ago

Do the math & then post your own video to explain why he's mistaken.