It's official – EVs just outsold gas-powered cars for the first time in Europe, here are 3 reasons why
https://www.techradar.com/vehicle-tech/hybrid-electric-vehicles/its-official-evs-just-outsold-gas-powered-cars-for-the-first-time-in-europe-here-are-3-reasons-why
165 points · 12 comments · view on lemmy.world
12 Comments
dxgsthrr@feddit.uk · 26 pts · 199d
Misleading. This was for one month of data (not even a quarter) and fails to mention that the most popular fuel type in that month of sales was petrol hybrids. EVs outsold pure petrol cars only, because they are becoming rare. EVs did not oursell cars which get their energy from petrol.
Kjell@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 199d
Good news, but we will be more dependent on Chinese batteries than we were on Russian oil. We will continue to be dependent on China for the rare earth metals even if an European battery factory like Northvolt is successful.
MrMakabar@slrpnk.net · 9 pts · 199d
Volkswagen has just opened a battery factory in Germany, which is able to produce something like 10% of car batteries needed in the EU. There are others as well, like Northvolt. So if China cuts off batteries, then there would still be a car production in Europe and within a few years it would be back to normal. Obviously there are also countries like South Korea producing batteries. However the EU has some strong train manufacturers and the like, which can also reduce the demand for cars, which is another great alternative.
Rare earths are worse though.
bossito@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 199d
Rare Earths are just another reason to shout "why the hell are we delaying the Mercosur agreement that we desperately need!?".
Benchamoneh@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 199d
Hopefully sodium batteries will help alleviate some of the rare earth dependencies since sodium is quite readily available in large quantities
MrMakabar@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 199d
So is lithium to be honest. Refining it is just a really dirty process.
Delascas@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 198d
Umm . . Northvolt filed for bankruptcy in 2025. Largest bankruptcy ever in Sweden.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/12/ev-battery-startup-northvolt-files-for-bankruptcy-in-sweden
MrMakabar@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 198d
Most of the assets have been bought out by Lyten. It really does not matter who owns the companies.
Kjell@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 197d
Northvolt could never ramp up the production and Lyten has some issues which might cause Northvolt to go bankrupt again.
During the autumn, when Lyten started to hire people, they violated the money laundering laws.
Some weeks ago Lyten had not raised the necessary funds for completing the purchase.
Taldan@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 199d
That's the beauty of hybrids - we're dependent on both
...wait
darko@feddit.org · -1 pts · 199d
That's why I keep saying Europe should go for hydrogen fuel. We already have plenty of green energy that we need to store somehow. Instead of subsidising chinese battery makers, we should put serious money in hydrogen r&d
Asetru@feddit.org · 2 pts · 198d
We really shouldn't. For every watt of electricity you produce, you'll get a hydrogen-powered car only a fraction of the distance of a battery-powered car. People are already lamenting how all those batteries should be charged, adding another factor (that's >1) to that equation will only make the transition even harder.
Just build batteries in Europe.