Electric Share in Vehicle Registrations in Switzerland Declines in 2024

After years of significant growth, the share of fully electric vehicles in new registrations has slightly decreased in 2024: For passenger cars, it stands at 19.0% (down from 20.7% in 2023) and for commercial vehicles at 8.6% (2023: 12.2%). Overall, the number of all motor vehicle new registrations in 2024 decreased by 2.9% compared to the previous year.

(Bern) Nevertheless, the total vehicle stock increased by 0.9% to 6.5 million. This is indicated by the official Swiss road vehicle statistics compiled by the Federal Statistical Office (BFS).

During the year 2024, a total of 346,059 road motor vehicles were newly registered in Switzerland. Almost three-quarters of these, namely 245,552, were passenger cars. Additionally, there were 49,507 motorcycles, 35,921 commercial vehicles, and 15,079 agricultural, industrial, and passenger transport vehicles.

Compared to 2023, the total number of newly registered road motor vehicles in 2024 decreased by 2.9%. Thus, the new registration figures remained significantly below the values recorded before the Covid-19 pandemic even in the fifth year after its onset – despite the fact that the supply shortages caused by the pandemic and subsequently by the Ukraine war have long been overcome. Compared to the average value of the ten “pre-Covid years” from 2010 to 2019, 2024 saw about one-seventh fewer road vehicles newly registered.

Passenger Cars: Decline in Electric Share in Almost All Cantons

New registrations of passenger cars decreased by a total of 4.1% in 2024 compared to the previous year. The long-booming electric cars could not change this – on the contrary: After growth in the electric segment was already less dynamic in 2023 than in previous years, it has come to a standstill in 2024. With a share of 19.0% of all passenger car new registrations, pure “electric vehicles” even recorded a small market share loss of 1.7 percentage points compared to 2023 (20.7%). This decline occurred broadly: it affected all months except February and March and, with one exception, all cantons. Possible causes cited by the industry and trade media include a currently still narrow range of electric vehicle offerings in the lower price segment and partially missing home charging options for tenants. Other reasons are suspected to include the extension of the (four percent) automobile tax to electric cars at the beginning of 2024 and the CO2 fleet targets for importers, which will only be tightened from 2025.

Plug-in Vehicles Clearly Below the Target of the 2025 Electromobility Roadmap

The share of newly registered plug-in hybrid vehicles remained approximately stable at 8.6% (2023: 9.0%) in 2024. Thus, the combined share of “plug-in vehicles” (pure electric cars plus plug-in hybrids) decreased from 29.7% to 27.6% in 2024. According to the objectives of the second phase of the “Roadmap” for promoting electromobility, formulated jointly by the federal government, the industry, associations, and other stakeholders, plug-in vehicles were supposed to account for half of all new registrations by the end of the current year 2025.

Conventional Hybrids Leading Among New Cars for the First Time

A mixed picture emerges in 2024 for pure combustion engines: While the share of “gasoline cars” has significantly decreased compared to the previous year, from 33.3% to 29.1%, diesel cars were able to stabilize their market share at 9.4% after seven consecutive years of decline. Conventional hybrids made significant gains: With a share of 33.9% (2023: 27.6%), they recorded more registrations than pure gasoline cars for the first time, thus becoming the largest drive segment among new passenger cars. Conventional hybrids derive their driving energy entirely from gasoline or diesel, but partially charge the battery of an electric auxiliary motor, making the drive somewhat more efficient.

More Commercial Vehicles – Electric Share Also Declines

In contrast to passenger cars, a slightly higher number of new registrations for commercial vehicles was recorded in 2024 compared to the previous year. Particularly, trucks saw an increase (+15.3%), while changes in vans (+1.3%) and articulated lorries (-0.6%) were relatively small. The decline in the electric segment affected commercial vehicles just as it did passenger cars: The share of fully electric vehicles among all newly registered goods transporters fell from 12.2% to 8.6% within a year.

A significant decline of 13.8% in new registrations was recorded for agricultural vehicles in 2024. This vehicle group has been recorded separately in the vehicle statistics since 1989. Since that year, there have never been as few new agricultural vehicles registered as in 2024.

Total Stock of Passenger Cars Grows by Approximately 35,000 Vehicles

Overall, as of September 30, 2024, the long-standing cut-off date, there were 6,503,711 motorized road vehicles registered for traffic in Switzerland, excluding motorbikes and e-bikes. About three-quarters of these were passenger cars, of which 4,796,090 were registered. Thus, despite relatively fewer new registrations, there were 35,142 more passenger cars on Swiss roads than a year earlier (+0.7%). The share of electric cars increased from 3.3% to 4.2% between 2023 and 2024. Thus, approximately one in 24 cars is now fully electric.

Motorization Rate Has Been Relatively Stable Since 2012

In 2024, there were 535 passenger cars registered per 1,000 inhabitants in Switzerland. After the motorization rate had been steadily increasing for many years, it has stabilized at the national level since around 2012, fluctuating between 535 and 543 vehicles. The situation is different in neighboring countries: In the most recent year for which comparable data is available, namely 2023, particularly in Liechtenstein (774) and Italy (694), but also in Germany (588), France (578), and Austria (566), there were more cars per 1,000 inhabitants than in Switzerland (543; values according to EU definitions, some still provisional). Furthermore, in these countries, the motorization rate has continued to rise in recent years.

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