Sales of low-priced electric cars under 25,000 euros ($37,630) in Europe are rising rapidly. An analysis said European Union car carbon dioxide rules have encouraged automakers to launch small, affordable electric cars.

CleanTechnica reported on Oct. 5 that European transport and environment group T&E forecast sales of electric cars under 25,000 euros this year would rise to about seven times the 2024 level. The number of models sold in the price bracket doubled in two years.

New launches have also jumped. About 40 new electric car models entered the European market in the first half alone, taking the number of mass-market battery electric vehicles (BEVs) above 150. Total new model launches this year are expected to reach about 60. That is about four times the annual average of 15 in 2021 to 2025.

Demand for small electric cars is also emerging. T&E said Volkswagen's ID. Polo drew more than 40,000 orders, with a waiting time of about 10 months. Lucien Mathieu (루시앙 마티외), head of T&E's cars division, argued that the problem was not a lack of demand for electric cars, as the industry has pointed to, but a shortage of supply of products at the price and size consumers want.

Sales indicators are also rising. Battery electric cars registered in the EU in January to August totaled 1,641,333, up about 45 percent from a year earlier. BEVs' market share in the second quarter hit 22 percent, surpassing pure gasoline cars for the first time on a quarterly basis.

A recent rise in oil prices also spurred the shift to electric cars. T&E estimated an oil price shock left EU road users bearing an additional 53 billion euros ($79.82 trillion won) in costs. It also estimated switching early in the crisis could have saved about 350 euros ($527,200 won) in driving costs by mid-September.

T&E warned that if current 2030 car carbon-reduction targets are eased, supplies of low-priced electric cars newly entering the market could fall by about three quarters. It said that could also weigh on the global competitiveness of European automakers.