The French-German deal
Germany wanted the EU's 2035 combustion engine phase-out softened further. France wanted "Buy European" rules that would steer public purchasing towards cars built in Europe. Each side had been blocking the other. According to Clean Energy Wire, the two countries have now agreed to support both proposals together and put them to the EU on 15 October.
The car part is easy to state. The rule as it stands, adopted in December 2025, requires new cars sold in the EU to cut their emissions by 90% by 2035. Under the French-German plan that figure becomes 80%. Interim targets, which manufacturers have to meet along the way, would be weakened again, just as they were in March 2025. The 90% headline has already been diluted by optional credits for so-called e-fuels, which Transport & Environment says are not a green solution.
Six member states have said they oppose loosening the rules further. France's switch to the German position means those votes are probably no longer enough to stop it.
Three revisions in two years
The 2035 phase-out was announced in 2021, together with a 55% cut in overall EU emissions by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. A fourteen-year lead time is not a forecast. It tells manufacturers where to put their money.
March 2025: the European Commission gave carmakers "breathing room", reducing the short-term emissions cuts they had to deliver. Brussels said at the time that the long-term targets were unchanged.
December 2025: the long-term target itself moved. The planned 100% cut for 2035 became 90%, with e-fuel credits on top.
October 2026: France and Germany want 80%.
The reason for the target has not changed. Back-to-back heatwaves in Europe this summer were linked to at least 35,000 excess deaths, according to reporting by The Guardian in August.
Sales data versus "market conditions"
Each rollback has been justified with "market conditions", meaning the argument that electric car sales are not rising as fast as expected. The current figures make that harder to argue. European EV sales were up 51%, with Chinese brands reaching a record market share, in figures reported in August. Europe is now leading the world in EV sales growth, while sales in North America fall. In the UK, battery-electric cars were the most popular powertrain in August 2026, and Chinese competition has pushed EV prices below petrol equivalents there.
Chinese manufacturers are not waiting for European rules to settle. Nio processed 1,192,221 battery swaps in seven days in its latest reporting period, 6% more per station than in May. China exported more cars in the first eight months of 2026 than in the whole of 2025.
What it changes for buyers
The 2035 target covers new cars sold in the EU. It does not ban driving a petrol car and it does not apply to the used market. What it decides is what will be standing on dealer forecourts in the 2030s.
Three revisions in two years make that harder for everyone to plan. A household choosing a car in 2027 has to guess whether small electric models will arrive on schedule, whether plug-in hybrids stay on sale longer, and how fast the resale value of a petrol car will fall in the meantime.
Running costs are a separate question, and one you can answer with your own numbers. Electricity per kilometre is cheaper than petrol in most of Europe. Our EV savings calculator works from your annual distance, and the charging cost calculator compares home charging with public prices. If a specific model is on your list, the range calculator shows what a winter motorway trip would do to it.
Charging and batteries keep moving
Political deadlines are not the only thing changing. France opened its highest-power truck charging hub in Vierzon this year, part of a plan for 50 sites by 2028. On the battery side, a Chalmers simulation of cell bypass in an 80 kWh pack estimated 14 extra months of pack life. Our supercharger database currently lists 483 locations.
What happens on 15 October
France and Germany present their joint proposal to the EU on 15 October. Six member states have said they oppose further weakening of the car rules. Separately, the EU is pressing the UK to put tariffs on Chinese EVs as a condition for joining the "Buy European" agreement. The UK has no such tariffs today, and battery-electric cars outsold every other powertrain there in August 2026.