World governments hoping to drastically cut emissions in the next decade all want us to kick our combustion cars to the kerb, but not everyone has the funds to swap their existing wheels for electric vehicle – but what if there was a new class of small, budget-friendly EVs more of us could afford?
That’s the thinking behind the European Commission’s latest work-in-progress initiative, which could see car makers incentivised for building E-cars. But what form will they take, what rules will they have to follow – and where will you be able to drive them? Here’s everything we know so far.
What are E-cars?
Right now, no-one really knows. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a “small affordable car initiative” in her 2025 State of the Union speech, with the dual aim of lowering the barrier to entry for customers and lowering the amount of polluting combustion cars on Europe’s roads, but it was short on specifics.
Size and performance restrictions are very likely, but neither has been locked down yet. The car industry thinks they’ll be closer to Japan’s Kei class than France’s voiture sans permis quadricycles, which can be driven by 14-year-olds with a simple road safety certificate.
They’ll be cheaper than even the most basic EVs on sale right now, mainly because they’ll be allowed to skip the expensive driver assist systems that are legally mandated on all new cars today. Estimates range from €15,000 to €20,000. Smaller battery capacities and a focus on shorter journeys – which make up the majority of trips by European car owners – will be the main ways to cut costs.
Car makers must also build them in Europe, and fit European-made batteries.
What’s in it for the car makers?
While big battery EVs continue to get more expensive and head further into luxury territory, the average European car buyer is only willing to spend €20,000 on a new electric vehicle. The E-car class would allow manufacturers to make much more affordable models, tapping a customer base that’s largely only interested in buying second-hand today.
The European Union could also offer incentives, like subsidising battery production and providing credits to help manufacturers hit their fleet average CO2 targets – which will get progressively harder towards the (since watered-down) 2035 deadline if they continue to sell combustion cars. Emissions across all cars sold have to drop by 90% compared to 2021’s figures, and not complying will result in fines.
Once regulations have been confirmed they’ll be set in stone for a minimum of ten years, so car makers aren’t forced to make sweeping changes to their designs or production centres..
When could the first E-cars arrive?
Don’t expect a swathe of cheap, small EVs to appear at your local dealership overnight. Once the regulations have been locked in, car manufacturers will need at least a couple of rears to design and manufacture models that meet them – assuming they are dramatically different from the rules covering current cars.
There’s a possibility the smallest, most affordable EVs on sale today could be adapted – think the cheap-as-chips Dacia Spring and Kei car-inspired Honda Super-N – but only if production is moved to within Europe.
More likely are variants of the retro-tastic Fiat 500, upcoming Volkswagen ID Polo and reborn Renault Twingo, which are already small and affordable. Reducing battery capacity and removing ADAS could be enough to qualify under the proposed rules. Either way, it’s unlikely the E-car class will have anything to show for itself until 2028 at the earliest.
Which countries could get E-cars?
As a European Commission initiative, Europe will be the E-car’s natural stomping ground. Whether that’ll mean all EU nations or just the ones that have more readily adopted EVs already remains to be seen.
The UK could miss out because now that it has left the European Union, cars sold and produced here wouldn’t earn credits or contribute to a manufacturer’s emissions goals. The government could agree a similar set of laws in order to change that, though.
It’s almost a certainty that the USA won’t see any of these new models – the small size and limited range would make them deeply impractical for American roads and average journey distances. They’d also be dwarfed by SUVs and pick-up trucks, which would make it next to impossible to pass safety standards.
