The EU executive appears to have yielded to the call from carmakers to be allowed to keep selling plug-in hybrids and range extenders with CO2-neutral biofuel or synthetic fuel
the electric vehicle industry says this will undermine investment and result in the EU yielding even more ground to China in the shift to EVs
You not needing a new car is pointless because we are only talking about new cars. Already before this change you could have continued driving your old car or still buy used diesel cars.
The point about your brothers car sounds like a vehicle or vehicle model specific construction problem (brand?) and not due to it being an EV. It is a fact that EVs have much less mobile parts and therefore much less wear and tear. So except for the mentioned tyre tear due to increased weight (there are also heavy ICE vehicles) running costs should be lower.