Plug-in electric vehicles in Europe

A variety of policies have been established to provide direct financial support to consumers and manufacturers; non-monetary incentives; subsidies for the deployment of charging infrastructure; and long term regulations with specific targets.

[12] As of December 2021[update], Germany led cumulative sales in Europe with 1.38 million plug-in cars registered since 2010,[13][14] followed by France (786,274),[15] the UK (~745,000),[16] Norway (647,000),[17] and the Netherlands (390,454).

[25][26] The European Union and several national, provincial, and local governments around Europe have introduced policies to support the mass market adoption of plug-in electric vehicles.

[2] As of May 2019[update], tax benefits and incentives for electrically chargeable passenger cars were available in 24 out of the then 28 European Union member states.

This a revenue-neutral policy mechanism allows to balance government support with direct revenues from the taxes collected from sale of particularly polluting and/or greenhouse gas emitting cars.

A second set of regulations, passed in 2014, established a new target of average CO2 emissions of new cars to fall to 95 g/km, scheduled to be phased-in in 2020 (95%), and fully apply from 2021 onward.

[31][32] In April 2019, Regulation (EU) 2019/631 was adopted, which introduced CO2 emission performance standards for new passenger cars and new light commercial vehicles for 2025 and 2030.

[32][34] Since 2018, European carmakers have been fully embracing electrification of their car models to further reduce CO2 emissions, and comply with the targets established by the EU.

[36] According to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), during the first quarter of 2020, and due to the COVID‐19 outbreak, the market share of new passenger plug-in electric cars in the 27 EU countries was 6.8%, up from 2.5% in the same period in 2018.

[39][40] As a result of its fast growing EV market penetration, average fleet CO2 emissions have been falling in Norway every year.

The net gain in the overall reduction of average fleet CO2 emissions is the result of the large market share of 42.4% achieved by the all-electric segment in 2019.

[44] Several European governments have made long term pledges with compliance targets within a specific timeframe such as ZEV mandates and the phase out of internal combustion engine vehicle sales.

[48][49] As of May 2020[update], cities planning to gradually introduce ZEZ, or a partial or total ban fossil fuel powered vehicles include, among others, Amsterdam (2030),[50] Athens (2025),[51] Barcelona (2030),[51] Brussels (2030/2035),[48] Copenhagen (2030),[51] London (2020/2025),[48] Madrid (2025),[52] Milan (2030),[51] Oslo (2024/2030),[48] Oxford (2021–2035),[53] Paris (2024/2030),[48] and Rome (2024/2030).

[48][54] There are also measures to promote efficient vehicles in the Directive 2009/33/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road transport vehicles, and in the Directive 2006/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on energy end-use efficiency and energy services.

[8] As of December 2020[update], France listed as the European country with the largest stock of light-duty electric commercial vehicles, with about 62,000 utility vans in use, and also ranks as the world's second after China.

[101] In 2014 Norway was the top selling country in the light-duty all-electric market segment, with 18,649 passenger cars and utility vans registered, more than doubling its 2013 sales.

[103] In the plug-in hybrid segment, the Netherlands was the top selling country in 2014 with 12,425 passenger cars registered,[104] followed by the UK with 7,821,[105] Germany with 4,527,[106] and Sweden 3,432 units.

[113] For a second year running, the Mitsubishi's Outlander P-HEV was the top selling plug-in electric car in Europe with 31,214 units sold in 2015, up 57% from 2014.

[87][111] The Netherlands was the top selling country in the European light-duty plug-in electric market segment, with 43,971 passenger cars and utility vans registered in 2015.

[92] Accounting for new registrations of plug-in passenger cars, Norway was Europe's top selling country in 2017 with 62,313 units, followed by Germany with 54,617, which more than doubled in 2017 and moved ahead of French and the British markets for the first time ever.

[90] Combined sales of BMW i3 pure electric and REx models totaled 20,855 units, making the i3 Europe's second best selling plug-in car in 2017 after the Zoe.

[127] The best selling plug-in hybrids were the Outlander P-HEV with 19,189 units, the VW Passat GTE with 13,599 and the Mercedes Benz GLC 350e with 11,249.

Despite the overall decline caused by the outbreak, registrations of plug-in electric cars totaled 167,132 units across the EU, more than doubled (up 100.7%) compared to the same period in 2019.

[171] As of December 2019[update], France is the European country with the largest market for light-duty electric commercial vehicles or utility vans, with a stock of almost 50,000 units.

[1] The large share of the light commercial market is the result of a national purchase incentive scheme, which French companies have embraced.

PHEVs represented 67% of the country's stock of passenger plug-in electric cars and vans registered at the end of December 2018, down from 81% in 2017.

[19][73] The Norwegian plug-in electric vehicle market share of new car sales has been the highest in the world for several years, achieving 29.1% in 2016,[207][208] 39.2% in 2017, 49.1% in 2018,[194][195] 55.9% in 2019 and 74.7% in 2020.

[135] As of September 2021[update], the Leaf continues to be the all-time best selling plug-in electric car in Norway, with over 70,000 cumulative registrations since inception.

[236][105][239] The segment market share was 3.1% in 2019, surged to 10.7% in 2020,[241] and achieved a record 18.6% in 2021, despite the global strong decline in car sales brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.