Cheaper?. 100 miles on the train is more expensive [in the UK] than the fuel for the same trip. And that's before I put 4 people in the sodding car. Not to mention, my standard drive is barely serviced by public transport (requiring three changes and a significant detour). You can even amortise my car costs and I'm still way ahead in time, costs and convenience.
NB. I'd really like the railways and buses nationalised and heavily subsidised to support fixed costs based solely on bucketed crow flies distance, log scaled etc. But whilst they are the way they are - no way will I give up a car.
This didn't use to be the case. UK trains were privatised and their costs have gone way up in the past few years.
Regardless, the UK is irrelevant to this discussion as we're talking about the EU.
Are you saying we can never argue for more bicycle use because that's somehow ableist?
Good. We need fewer car sales. We need more non-car infrastructure.
We don't need an "output equivalent to the energy stored in the fuel used by today's non EV cars". What we need is fewer cars and more people on public transports and bicycles wherever it makes sense.
Less car trips. The current price of gas is already pushing people to take their car less and prioritize cheaper modes of transportation.
Fulfill the remainder of the demand with electric.