Car industry Electric cars are picking up speed again in Switzerland - but only slowly
The Swiss have bought more electric cars again this year. However, the industry is not moving fast enough.
22.10.2025, 13:43
SDA
Swiss new car buyers are increasingly choosing "electric cars" again. In the first nine months of the year, the market share was 21%, over two percentage points higher than in the same period last year.
This puts Switzerland on a par with neighboring countries. The market shares in France, Austria and Germany are similarly high.
But there is more to come: in Denmark, two thirds of new registrations are e-cars, and in Norway the proportion of electric cars is as high as 95%. Compared to Switzerland, both countries generously promote the purchase of "electric cars".
Industry association takes a skeptical view of e-car target
The Swiss Automobile Industry Association expressed its dissatisfaction in a recent press release. The target formulated by the federal government, according to which half of all new registrations should be plug-in vehicles by 2025, is "anything but realistic".
President Peter Grünenfelder criticized that new levies such as the four percent import tax and the planned additional taxation from 2030 would slow down e-mobility, while other countries were making progress with tax incentives and clear targets.
Krispin Romang, Director of the electric car association Swiss eMobility, agrees with Grünenfelder. "The market would offer significantly more," he says. At the beginning of the year, his association assumed a share of 28 percent.
Romang accuses the Federal Council of deliberately slowing down e-mobility. While all neighboring countries have already introduced a "right to charge", Switzerland has only adopted this at the legislative level. The right allows tenants to install a charging box in the underground garage without the landlord being able to object.
Switzerland taxes too strictly
Romang also sees a disadvantage in terms of taxation: "Switzerland has never eliminated the disadvantage for electric company cars, as our neighbors have long since done." Because the tax for private use of the company car is calculated on the new price, drivers of electric cars pay more, as the vehicles tend to be expensive.
"And after the import tax, another tax is now being discussed," says Romang. The planned replacement tax for the mineral oil tax would create a further disadvantage for electric vehicles.
At the same time, he notes that the charging infrastructure is developing positively and that the vehicles have long been suitable for everyday use. "Those who can charge at home save time and money - and more and more people are recognizing these advantages, not for ecological but for practical reasons." Nevertheless, Switzerland will only achieve its climate targets in the transport sector if it no longer "deliberately" favors fossil mobility.
E-cars also make economic sense
In fact, in addition to practical reasons, there are also increasingly economic reasons in favor of "electric cars". Maintenance costs are already lower than for combustion engines and electric cars are also becoming more attractive to buy.
According to a new survey by car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, the average surcharge from a combustion engine to a comparable electric car is currently around 2200 euros - lower than ever before. Although the figures come from Germany, Dudenhöffer assumes that the trend also applies to Switzerland.
