Green group Transport & Environment cut sales forecasts for all-electric cars in Europe to 2027 by 2 million vehicles following the EU decision to give carmakers two extra years to comply with stricter CO2 emission limits, in an updated report published on Monday.
The European Commission revised the timeline after the European automotive industry warned that carmakers were facing huge fines for failing to meet tighter emissions standards that took effect this year.
T&E also contends that EU carmakers have increased the price premium of their electric cars after the EU’s decision, reversing cuts they had made to meet the 2025 reduced emission mandate.
Under current EU rules, all new cars sold in the bloc will have to be zero emission by 2035. Carmakers also need to respect intermediate limits on the average emissions of the vehicles they sell in a given year, or pay greener competitors to discount the excesses through “pooling”.
T&E forecasts that all EU carmakers but Mercedes will be able to meet the target without pooling. The singling-out of Mercedes is relevant as the company’s CEO is also the current president of the EU carmakers lobby group ACEA, which recently doubled down on its war against the EU’s longer-term car emission goals.
Stick to the rules
Car manufacturers “are painting a terrible picture because they want their targets weakened. But the reality is that electric car sales are surging and emissions rules are key to that equation”, Lucien Mathieu, the campaign group’s director for cars, said in a statement.
“By sticking to the agreed rules, Europe can give its automotive industry a fighting chance in the global EV race. But weakening the targets could see other manufacturers go the way of Mercedes which is falling behind on electrification and must buy credits from its competitors,” Mathieu added.
He also stressed that EU companies “are living in cloud cuckoo land if they think China will stop innovating while they try to prolong the technology of the past”.
Electric models represent an important share of car sales in various emerging markets. In the first half of 2025, they covered 5% of the market in Mexico, 13% in Indonesia, 24% in Thailand, 30% in China, and 42% in Vietnam, according to T&E.
Batteries, chargers
Back in Europe, the report forecasts that the price of batteries – a key component of overall EV purchase cost – will fall 28% by 2027 and 46% by 2030.
When it comes to recharging station, all EU countries have already met their EU-mandated installation targets for 2025, with 22 out of 27 member states already boasting twice the charging power required by EU law, T&E said.
Under the EU alternative fuel infrastructure regulation, EU countries need 1.3 kilowatt of power available at publicly accessible recharging points for every battery electric car on their roads, and fast charging stations installed every 60 kilometres along the bloc’s main transport corridors.
There are gaps, such as a lack of ultra-fast chargers on the EU’s “core highway network” in the Iberian peninsula, the south of Italy, and much of Eastern Europe. But as of August 2025, just over three-quarters of the core network is compliant with this year’s goals, the NGO said.
(rh, bts)
