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> I think what we are seeing is that electric car interest isn't as strong as governments hoped for. I used to own an electric car now I'm back to a hybrid. In

> I think what we are seeing is that electric car interest isn't as strong as governments hoped for. I used to own an electric car now I'm back to a hybrid. In France, there is a wide anti-electric campaign. From the "leftist-green" media such as Reporterre, to the right wing ones. Same for political parties, from the left PCF to the right RN. It's a battle.

phtrivier 1y ago
I don't know how much the battle matters, compared to pure money. For example, according to this source, people bought less BEVs in May because... they want to benefit from the government subsidy later this year. So maybe the headline will read "incredible success" six months after having read "terrible failure". [1] Surprisingly, BEVs are _more_ visible in the country side (where many smaller models make complete sense as a "second car" for a household that needs to drop kids at school, get the groceries, etc...) than in cities. Never mind. Even more surprisingly, people do buy some French EVs, even though, well... our glorious national brands have spent the last few years working hard on removing the knobs from the autoradio, and that justified all the "R&D tax rebate" they could get, but sadly none was left for chemists and physicists to increase range, lower prices, etc... Again, go figure. [1] https://www.go-electra.com/fr/newsroom/ventes-voitures-electriques-2025/ https://www.go-electra.com/fr/newsroom/ventes-voitures-elect...
- zorobo 1y ago
  > Surprisingly, BEVs are _more_ visible in the country side (where many smaller models make complete sense as a "second car" for a household that needs to drop kids at school, get the groceries, etc...) than in cities. Never mind. Not that surprising; countryside folks own houses and can charge at home for cheap, while city dwellers generally can't and have to use overpriced, inconvenient public charging.
orwin 1y ago
The PCF is arguing for development and of a subsidized Kei-like electric car (basically a 10k€ EV), and a retraining of car manufacturing workers before any punitive incentive (ZFE, carbon tax on car fuel). This is hardly anti-electric. I don't know about reporterre though, I've heard of them but I don't think they really have any influence on anyone other than Greenpeace afficionados. Also? The R5 is great, and I bet the backlog is really long.
- maelito 1y ago
  The PCF was strongly against the interdiction of new thermal car sales in 2035. This is the kind of struggle that will kill small electric cars business opportunities. Even the "punitive" vocabulary is political and mostly comes from right-wind politicians. Yes the R5 is great and way cheaper than the mean car price.

phtrivier 1y ago

I don't know how much the battle matters, compared to pure money. For example, according to this source, people bought less BEVs in May because... they want to benefit from the government subsidy later this year. So maybe the headline will read "incredible success" six months after having read "terrible failure". [1] Surprisingly, BEVs are _more_ visible in the country side (where many smaller models make complete sense as a "second car" for a household that needs to drop kids at school, get the groceries, etc...) than in cities. Never mind. Even more surprisingly, people do buy some French EVs, even though, well... our glorious national brands have spent the last few years working hard on removing the knobs from the autoradio, and that justified all the "R&D tax rebate" they could get, but sadly none was left for chemists and physicists to increase range, lower prices, etc... Again, go figure. [1] https://www.go-electra.com/fr/newsroom/ventes-voitures-electriques-2025/ https://www.go-electra.com/fr/newsroom/ventes-voitures-elect...

zorobo 1y ago
> Surprisingly, BEVs are _more_ visible in the country side (where many smaller models make complete sense as a "second car" for a household that needs to drop kids at school, get the groceries, etc...) than in cities. Never mind. Not that surprising; countryside folks own houses and can charge at home for cheap, while city dwellers generally can't and have to use overpriced, inconvenient public charging.

orwin 1y ago

The PCF is arguing for development and of a subsidized Kei-like electric car (basically a 10k€ EV), and a retraining of car manufacturing workers before any punitive incentive (ZFE, carbon tax on car fuel). This is hardly anti-electric. I don't know about reporterre though, I've heard of them but I don't think they really have any influence on anyone other than Greenpeace afficionados. Also? The R5 is great, and I bet the backlog is really long.

maelito 1y ago
The PCF was strongly against the interdiction of new thermal car sales in 2035. This is the kind of struggle that will kill small electric cars business opportunities. Even the "punitive" vocabulary is political and mostly comes from right-wind politicians. Yes the R5 is great and way cheaper than the mean car price.