Electric vehicles accounted for 14.6% of all new car registrations in the European Union in 2023, according to new data from Destatis, the German federal statistics office.
The data, released to coincide with European Mobility Week, taking place from September 16 to 22, found that Germany, with an 18.4% share of newly registered electric cars, ranks above the EU average but lags behind northern European countries like Sweden (38.6%), Denmark (36.1%), and Finland (33.8%).
At the other end of the spectrum, Croatia had the smallest share of new electric cars at 2.6%, followed by Slovakia (2.9%) and the Czech Republic (3.1%).
Outside the EU, Norway leads the way in terms of electric vehicle adoption, with 81.2% of newly registered cars in 2023 being electric vehicles, followed by Iceland at 52.8%.
Announcing its findings, Destatis said that the variation in electric car adoption across countries is driven by factors such as the availability of charging infrastructure and government incentives, such as tax breaks and reduced toll or parking fees.
Transition to electromobility
While Germany’s share of newly registered electric cars is just above the EU average, the country is a key player in the transition to electromobility due to its large car market, Destatis noted.
In 2023, Germany saw around 524,200 new electric car registrations, meaning one in three of the EU’s nearly 1.55 million new electric cars came from Germany. The federal government aims to have at least 15 million fully electric cars on the road by 2030, though the state purchase premium for electric cars expired at the end of 2023.
New cars
In general terms, whether EVs or traditional combustion engine-powered vehicles, Germany has a high number of new cars on the road.
As of 2023, 14.8% of Germany’s 49.1 million cars were less than two years old. This figure is only surpassed by Luxembourg, where 19% of cars are younger than two years. Sweden follows closely at 14.2%.
At the other end of the scale, Romania (3.3%), Cyprus (3.7%), and Latvia (4.4%) have the smallest share of new cars under two years old.
