Electric cars, home reprofit, heat pumps: Can the middle class afford to invest in 2026?
The beginning of 2026 has proven to be economically turbulent. The increase in fossil fuel prices caused by the war in the Middle East has driven up household energy bills. In this context, investments that allow households to free themselves from dependence on fossil fuels—electric vehicles, heat pumps, home insulation—are attracting growing interest, and the government recently unveiled its plan to accelerate the electrification of end-uses.At the same time, public aid programs for energy retrofit and electric mobility have been revised, sometimes involving significant cuts. Finally, while the cost of energy retrofit continues to rise, the trend is beginning to reverse for electric vehicle prices.
These developments are affecting households’ ability to invest in transition solutions. We have therefore updated the analyses of our French Observatory of access conditions to the ecological transition for households and revised the key indicators used to assess the ability of middle- and low-income households to invest in an electric vehicle, a deep energy retrofit, or a heat pump.
Three main conclusions emerge from this update:
- Under current conditions, buying a second-hand electric vehicle is becoming more advantageous than continuing to drive an old combustion engine car. With petrol prices exceeding €2 per liter and declining prices for second-hand electric vehicles, the energy savings cover the out-of-pocket repayments for purchasing a used electric car.
- The out-of-pocket cost for a deep energy retrofit of a house has increased by €20,000 in 2026 and now exceeds €40,000. The sharp increase in public aid in 2024 has been completely offset by reductions this year. Nevertheless, for households that manage to finance the work, retrofit still generates savings. Indeed, the energy savings from a deep energy retrofit cover the out-of-pocket repayments of a zero interest eco-loan.
- Installing a heat pump is becoming even more attractive for households in 2026. The revision of “Coup de pouce chauffage” (a bonus for replacing a heating system with a low-carbon solution) has reduced the out-of-pocket cost by €3,000 since last year. At the same time, rising fossil fuel prices are increasing the potential savings from installing a heat pump.
