The sale of electric cars is declining in Switzerland. Last year, only 19.3% of cars sold were fully electric, a drop compared to the previous year (20.9%), underlines Swiss eMobility, the Swiss association for electric mobility on Thursday.
Krispin Romang, director of Swiss eMobility, is not surprised by these results: “The sector was expecting a difficult year. The introduction of the import tax on electric vehicles on January 1, the lack of will and pressure to further reduce CO2 emissions and the still difficult situation with home charging stations are hampering the development of electric mobility. , he says. And to regret: “Despite excellent products and the best public charging network, the transition from fossil fuel to electric in Switzerland is still not won.”
Switzerland is also lagging behind on a European scale. It cannot keep up with the evolution of leading markets in Scandinavia, such as Norway, where 89% of new cars sold in 2024 were electric. It was also overtaken by Portugal, thus leaving the top 10 for the development of electric mobility for the first time, underlines Swiss eMobility.
However, it was once again an electric car that was the best-sold in 2024 here, in this case the Tesla Model Y. Some 6,500 drivers broke the bank to afford it, it’s even better than the last year. Behind this model, we find two e-SUVs: the Škoda Enyaq (2nd place among electric vehicles, 11th overall) and the Volvo EX30 (3rd among electric vehicles, 13th overall).
On the hybrid side, the best-selling model was the Volvo XC60, ahead of the Mercedes-Benz GLC and the BMW X1.
E-cars work better across Sarine
As always, our German-speaking neighbors are the most favorable to e-mobility. The cantons of Zurich (24.9%), Solothurn (24.1%) and St. Gallen (23.7%) thus record the highest percentages of electric cars in terms of sales. On the French side, it is the cantons of Valais and Vaud (17.9% and 17.3%) which are the 2024 champions. The dunce in this area is Ticino.
Note also that the growth of public charging stations has continued. Switzerland now has nearly 20,000, a high level by European standards.
