Europe's leaders and laggards in electric vehicle sales

As the European Union has looked to push carmakers towards electric vehicles, sales of EVs across the continent have been uneven, skewed more to northern and western countries, while nations further south and east have tended to lag.

The EU is now easing emissions targets for 2035 amid strong pushback from the industry, which says EV demand has picked up more slowly than expected and it needs more time to make the shift from combustion engines.

In Norway, where the government has used its oil-funded sovereign wealth fund to subsidise EVs and invest in charging infrastructure, EV sales hit 94% of total car sales in the first seven months of 2025, data from consultancy Inovev shows.

Other Nordic governments and nations in northern and western Europe have also provided subsidies and invested in infrastructure, boosting sales.

However, EV adoption in southern and eastern Europe has been much slower, as electric cars have proved expensive for many buyers and charging infrastructure is virtually non-existent in some regions. Croatia is at just 1%, Inovev data shows.

The divergence means that across much of the continent the overall EV take-up rate in the first seven months of this year has been in the low- to mid-single digits.

The EU has earmarked funds for charging infrastructure and some EV subsidies across the bloc. But in markets like Spain that have launched programmes to support electric car purchases, Chinese automakers offering more affordable models have benefited more than their European rivals

The easing of EU emissions targets could dampen investment in charging infrastructure, a critical element for mass EV adoption. Some automakers are already scaling back ambitions, with Renault RENA.PA recently paring back its EV charging plans as it prioritises profitability in a tough market.