The electric cars battery accounted for 19% of the new registrations in Europe in 2025, four percentage points more than the previous year, and reached the highest annual quota ever recorded, according to a report by the International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT).
He ICCT indicated thus that almost one in five new cars sold are fully electric vehicleswhich means “a historical milestone” in 2025 in the European market.
The volume of registrations of this type of car increased by around 31% compared to the previous year, while the European car market as a whole grew by 2.2%, around 11 million units, of which more than two million They were electric.
Furthermore, 2025 marked the higher year-on-year growth since 2021, despite the political uncertainty and economic as a result of the tariff threats and the increase in international competition in the automobile sector.
This expansion mainly drove the fall in average CO2 emissions from new registrations and brought manufacturers closer to their next regulatory objectives for the period of 2025–2027according to the ICCT.
The share of electric and hybrid pluggable grows
The European Union (EU) introduced greater regulatory flexibility early last year, allowing manufacturers to average emissions over a longer compliance period (2025–2027); reduce short-term pressure and delay the 2025 target by two years.
However, this change could slow down the adoption of electric vehiclesas it likely reduced the incentive for manufacturers to accelerate the launch of more affordable and attractive models, the ICCT.
Despite this, these cars together with plug-in hybrids together reached a market share of 28% in 2025, six more points than the previous year, while vehicles with internal combustion engines lost ten points and full and light hybrids gained three.
“The electric vehicles they are no longer a niche segmentand consumers are responding to the market offer,” said the senior researcher at ICCT Sonsoles Diaz in a statement.
The five largest European car manufacturing groups increased their market share electric vehicles of battery in 2025: the Volkswagen Group (seven percentage points more); Renault and BMW (with five more each); Stellantis (three) and Mercedes-Benz (0.4).
On the other hand, while BMW and Mercedes-Benz Already meeting or exceeding their average CO2 targets two years in advance, Volkswagen remains the furthest from its target.
Automobile electrification progresses in Europe
Automotive electrification is progressing in all regions of Europe. At the end of 2025, Europe had about 1.14 million of charging points public, almost four times more than 2020.
By country, the nordic and the Netherlands They have already exceeded the 50% electricity market share.
Germany and France reached a combined battery electric and plug-in hybrid share of 30% and 27%, respectively, while Italy and Spain they advanced with 12% and 20%.
- Regarding battery electric ones, Spain, Italy and Poland They remained below 10% market share, but registered strong growth in registration volume compared to 2024, with increases of 77%, 46% and 163%, respectively.
In this sense, the co-author of the market monitor of the ICCT Michelle Monteforte assured that “any slowdown in Europe “would risk being left behind in a critical phase of the transition, just when European manufacturers need to compete more intensely in both the domestic and export markets.”
