At the fifth edition of Hungarian Battery Day in Budapest, the conversation on Europe’s electromobility entered a mature phase, with an experienced panel dissecting the EV ecosystem across markets, technologies and consumer dynamics. Moderated by Gabriel Avăcăriței, Editor-in-Chief of Energynomics, the debate gathered six key voices shaping Europe’s e-mobility landscape: Chris Heron, Secretary General of E-Mobility Europe; Peter Auerbeck, Key-Account Manager E-Mobility at GROB-WERKE GmbH & Co. KG; Péter Kaderják, Executive Director of the Hungarian Battery Association; Oskaras Alšauskas, Energy Analyst with the World Energy Outlook team at the International Energy Agency (IEA); Magda Zemanová, Vice-Chairman of the Czech Battery Cluster and Automotive & Battery Leader Europe at Bilfinger; and Patrik Krizansky, Director of the Slovak Electric Vehicle Association (SEVA) and Vice-President of E-Mobility Europe.

Global and European context

According to Oskaras Alšauskas, over the past decade the structure of global battery demand has changed dramatically: ten years ago, applications within the energy industry — meaning electric vehicles and stationary energy storage systems — represented only about half of the total market. Today, as he explained, the overall market is roughly ten times larger, and these energy-related uses account for nearly 90% of global battery demand, replacing consumer electronics as the dominant driver of growth. About three-quarters of this market is now tied to electric vehicles, driven mainly by China’s affordable car segment. Policy remains the first inflection point: “Support schemes on both demand and supply sides led to rapid electrification in China. Europe is gradually catching up thanks to CO₂ standards and growing competitiveness.”

At EU level, Chris Heron described 2025 as a year of “tailwinds and headwinds.” On the positive side, EV sales across Europe are up 40% year-on-year, now representing about 20% of new car sales, with Volkswagen and BMW reporting strong demand. Yet, regulatory uncertainty looms large. “The zero-emission car and van targets for 2035 are being reviewed, and it’s difficult to know what impact that will have,” Heron warned. Stability is critical: “We need investment certainty for the entire ecosystem — from vehicles and batteries to charging infrastructure and raw materials.”

Diverse markets, shared challenges

Romania has seen a volatile path. After a year and a half of declining sales due to reduced subsidies, September 2025 brought an almost 40% rebound compared to the same month a year before, with a 49% share for “electrified” cars. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) recorded growth of 52%, with a market share of 6%. Yet, the BEV sales shrank by 40% in the first half of 2025, following a 33% drop in 2024, reducing EV penetration from 13% to 11% — well below the EU average of 22% for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles combined. With under 5,000 public chargers versus a 2026 target of 22,400, infrastructure remains thin; many EV users charge at home or work.

In Hungary, the ecosystem shows steady growth. “We have supported e-car purchases since 2016,” said Péter Kaderják. “About 2% of Hungary’s four million passenger cars are now electric or alternative-fuel vehicles, and the stock of battery-electric cars is close to 100,000.” The country now focuses subsidies on city logistics and commercial fleets, while charging infrastructure remains the main bottleneck, especially in dense urban housing areas.

The Czech Republic, explained Magda Zemanová, has “no subsidies currently,” which is reflected in slower growth. Still, the EV market is expanding. “The charging points we have are enough to serve the cars on the road,” she noted, though the next challenge is “slow charging and capacity at housing developments and in cities.”

Slovakia, said Patrik Krizansky, is progressing faster than it appears. “We have four active OEMs — Volkswagen, Kia, Stellantis, and Volvo, the latter building a new BEV-only factory. Two of them already produce battery-electric vehicles, and some models are sold out for six months.” About 5% of new cars are electric, with roughly 3,000 public charging points nationwide.

From subsidies to market confidence

Across Europe, speakers agreed that “stop-go” subsidies — such as Germany’s sudden incentive halt — have destabilized the market. Sustainable, long-term demand policies are essential. Heron highlighted Denmark and Belgium as examples where tax reforms and company-car schemes have effectively supported adoption. In Hungary, incentives are shifting toward fleet electrification.

Germany, noted Peter Auerbeck from GROB-WERKE, is experiencing a slowdown in private EV sales “because there are not a lot of affordable cars on the market.” To counter this, Berlin is considering incentives for buyers of second-hand EVs. “Who’s able to buy a car for 100,000 euros? Funding for used EVs would open the door to customers who are not rich and help move those electric cars that are standing around at the manufacturers,” he said.

The second-hand EV opportunity

All panelists underlined the importance of a functional second-hand market. “It’s a bit undervalued,” Heron admitted. Yet demand exists: “EVs on the used lots sell almost immediately,” said Zemanová. Alšauskas stressed that the European market “will not be fully mature before we have an operational second-hand market,” recommending targeted fleet renewal as the main source of used vehicles.

Information transparency is another missing piece. “The big gap between seller and buyer is the battery’s health data,” argued Kaderják. He pointed to China’s government-run program for used batteries, where “the value and prices are transparent.”

The conversation also touched on vehicle-to-grid (V2G) potential. “Cars are storage units,” noted Auerbeck. “If the electricity network were open to external users, people could even earn money with their cars.” The technology, already piloted in the UK and Germany, could transform electric vehicles into distributed storage assets that support grid flexibility and consumer savings. Heron offered a striking figure: “All the EV capacity in Europe by 2030 could power all homes in Spain for a year — even 30% of it would cover the Netherlands.”

Despite uneven national progress, the mood on stage was cautiously optimistic. The region’s industrial momentum — with new gigafactories, OEM commitments, and evolving policies — suggests that Central and Eastern Europe can anchor the next stage of Europe’s EV transformation.

Energynomics was a media partner of the Hungarian Battery Day 2025.