Electrive — 2026-09-07
Automotive Industry
In the latest edition of its annual ‘EV Transition Check’ report, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) demonstrates that clear progress is being made in Europe regarding zero-emission vehicles. One of the key findings: given falling battery costs and persistently high fuel prices, battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are already significantly cheaper to operate daily than combustion engine cars.
“EV electric car drivers in Europe are paying about a third less than those with gasoline cars. Those savings are hard to ignore. They also explain why the car market keeps moving in one direction. We expect battery electric car adoption across Europe to scale up in the coming years if current policies are maintained,” explained Marie Rajon Bernard, lead researcher at the ICCT and lead author of the report.
Exclusively charging at public stations is still significantly cheaper
For its comparison, the ICCT analysed electric cars charged at both private and public charging points against petrol-engine cars in the EU. The result: in 2025, electric cars were 33 per cent cheaper to operate than their petrol-engine counterparts. Even electric cars that only charge at (generally more expensive) public charging stations were still 28 per cent cheaper than petrol cars. The oil crisis that began in February 2026 further widened this gap. At the start of 2026, energy costs for combustion engine cars rose by 12 to 36 per cent, while they remained largely unchanged for BEVs.
What is important for the cost comparison is that, recently, the prices of electric cars have fallen significantly. In 2025, they had already reached the price level of petrol-powered cars in the three largest vehicle segments. This is supported by price data from 100,000 vehicles on Europe’s largest automotive market, Germany. At the same time, the selection of electric cars has increased significantly: The number of available BEV models on the market quadrupled between 2020 and 2025.
Falling battery costs influencing BEV price drop
Falling battery costs are creating room for lower BEV prices: Globally, battery costs fell by 35 per cent between 2020 and 2025. As a result, the purchase costs for battery-electric passenger cars in Germany – adjusted for inflation and vehicle features such as range – decreased by 18 per cent over the same period. In contrast, prices for combustion engine vehicles rose by 2 per cent. It is also interesting to note how European automakers have ramped up electric car production in recent years. In 2025, the market share of fully electric powertrains was already at 18 per cent.
“We’ve observed that car prices haven’t fallen as quickly as battery costs have, which tells us there is more room for electric cars to get cheaper in the coming years. This is a critical moment for carmakers globally. Rather than reversing course, European carmakers will need to sustain and deepen their investments in electrification. The competition in this market will intensify,” said Peter Mock, Director of ICCT Europe.
Electric trucks in Germany cheaper than diesel alternatives
The figures for trucks are similarly impressive, and suggest that electric trucks and diesel trucks could achieve cost parity in terms of total cost of ownership in long-haul transport within the EU as early as 2030. Germany has already reached this point today, thanks to toll exemptions for electric trucks. As a result, the costs for purchasing and operating an electric truck in long-haul transport in Germany are already 11 per cent lower than those of a diesel truck.
The ICCT’s report not only examines the costs of electric vehicles but also considers the ecological aspect of market growth: electric cars produce 73 per cent fewer greenhouse gas emissions over their entire lifecycle than petrol cars – a significantly better figure than in the controversial white paper by TU Munich. For battery-electric long-haul trucks, the CO2 savings are even 86 per cent compared to diesel trucks. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), on the other hand, show a rapidly growing discrepancy between real-world emissions and type-approval values (on average 4.6 times higher)—a phenomenon known as the ‘Utility Factor’.