The calculation behind the figure
The brief works with cell costs of €50 and €85 per kWh. The €35 gap, multiplied by a 60 kWh pack, comes to €2,100. A proposed requirement for low-carbon steel would add roughly €200. A plan to simplify type approval would save manufacturers an estimated €61 per car, which does little against €2,300.
None of these rules is final. What a buyer pays depends on the wording, on whether governments subsidise the difference, and on how much of the cost carmakers absorb. The brief is a policy proposal, not a draft regulation.
What €2,100 means month to month
We ran the numbers for a household driving 15,000 km a year in a car that uses 18 kWh per 100 km. That is 2,700 kWh. Charging at home at €0.20 per kWh costs €540 a year. A petrol car at 7 l/100 km and €1.60 per litre burns €1,680. The saving is about €1,140 a year, so €2,100 of extra purchase price is paid back in under two years of driving. Spread over a five-year loan it comes to €35 a month.
The picture changes for anyone who charges on the road. Motorway fast charging at €0.60 to €0.80 per kWh eats most of that advantage. Our list of the cheapest rapid charging sites is the place to start if you do long trips often, and the charging cost calculator lets you put your own tariff in.
Carmakers sometimes soften a price with charging credit rather than a discount. BMW, for example, gave US buyers of the 2027 i5, i7 and iX3 $500 of public charging credit. That is a sweetener, not a cheaper car.
Production, jobs and investment
EU car production has fallen 19% since 2019. Buyers registered 2.2 million fewer new cars in 2025 than in 2019. The wider automotive sector employs around 14 million people, and Bruegel notes that roughly €3 billion a quarter still goes into battery and EV factories in Europe.
The brief also warns that Europe is losing technology, suppliers and overseas customers, not just volume. At the Paris motor show this year, Chinese brands arrived with software and charging hardware that European makers answered with heritage and design.
Europe's own cell plants
Local production has proved hard to get running. Northvolt failed. Porsche pulled back from manufacturing at Cellforce. Several ACC plants were shelved. Even cells made in Europe often depend on Asian equipment and process knowledge.
The ownership numbers make the point. South Korean companies hold 65% of Europe's battery cell manufacturing capacity. Chinese companies hold 55% of the capacity now under construction.
Tariffs and hybrids
The EU's additional duties on Chinese electric cars reach 35.3%. They cover battery-electric cars and leave plug-in hybrids out. Bruegel points out that BEV imports from China have flattened while hybrid imports climb.
The think tank also cites French research: models excluded from purchase subsidies sold 60% worse than eligible ones. Subsidies move buyers, and their absence moves them away.
Its suggestion is a negotiated, temporary limit on the number of Chinese BEVs and plug-in hybrids entering Europe, with a clear end date and the option to tighten if China breaks the terms. Fewer Chinese cars on offer would probably mean higher prices for the ones that arrive. Europe limited Japanese imports in the past; Canada limits Chinese EV imports now. In both cases buyers paid more.
What buyers can check now
Cars already in showrooms have their cells already bought, so an EU content rule would not change their price. Ask about the delivery date and whether the price is fixed at order. Check what your country offers today: the EV catalog lists models and battery sizes, and the savings calculator compares running costs with your current car.
For a family, the €2,100 question is less about the sticker than about the payback period. On home charging that period is short. On public charging it stretches, and the cheap end of the market feels it first.
Bruegel's own framing is that protection should be temporary, long enough for European manufacturers to build cheaper cars. The brief gives no date for that, and no guarantee the rules will be written the way it proposes.
Source: https://insideevs.com/news/814749/europeans-pay-more-save-carmakers/