EU electric car share reaches record 17.3% in 2025 — Denmark leads with 67.8%

22 September 2026 — Zhana Aceska. Battery‑electric passenger cars made up a record 17.3 percent of all new vehicle registrations across the European Union in 2025, marking the highest share so far and underlining the continued shift toward electrified road transport.

Data reported by the German Federal Statistical Office, based on figures from Eurostat, show that hybrids accounted for 42.4 percent of new passenger car registrations, petrol‑engine cars 27.3 percent and diesel 9.8 percent. Other powertrains such as liquefied petroleum gas or compressed natural gas represented only a small part of the market.

Where electric cars are concentrated

At country level Denmark stood out: battery‑electric vehicles represented 67.8 percent of all new registrations there in 2025. The Netherlands followed with 40.2 percent and Malta with 37.6 percent. At the low end of the scale were Croatia with 1.9 percent, Slovakia with 4.7 percent and Bulgaria with 4.9 percent.

Germany recorded a 19.1 percent share of battery‑electric cars among its new registrations in 2025, slightly above the EU average but trailing several peers. As the bloc’s largest car market, Germany registered roughly 545,100 battery‑electric vehicles during 2025, which amounted to 28.9 percent of the EU’s total of 1.89 million new electric cars. France followed with 330,900 new battery‑electric registrations, equal to 17.5 percent of the EU total.

The rise in electric car uptake over the past decade has been steep: battery‑electric models represented only 0.4 percent of new registrations in 2015. Analysts point to higher fuel prices, expanded charging infrastructure, more affordable entry models and government purchase incentives as important drivers. In Germany, the Federal Motor Transport Authority recorded about 69,000 new battery‑electric car registrations in August 2025 — more than 75 percent higher than in the same month a year earlier.

Outside the EU, Norway remains far ahead: more than 95 percent of new passenger cars registered there in 2025 were battery‑electric. The large differences between countries reflect varying levels of investment in charging networks and divergent national policies on subsidies and other support measures for electrification.

Photo: press material from the event