Abstract:

This report analyzes market trends and key national and local electric vehicle promotion policies across Europe. Electric vehicle uptake and policies for passenger cars are assessed for 15 metropolitan areas: Amsterdam, Berlin, Birmingham, Brussels, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Oslo, Paris, Rotterdam-The Hague, Stockholm, Vienna, and Zurich. These areas represent high uptake markets with diverse support activities within the greatest national electric vehicle markets. The analysis focuses on key policies and the effects of incentives, charging infrastructure, and model availability on electric vehicle uptake. The 15 metropolitan areas across 12 countries in Europe analyzed in this paper saw electric vehicle uptake ranging from 2% to more than 61% in 2018. Together, the different markets illustrate the impact promotion actions, incentives, charging infrastructure, and model availability can have on electric vehicle sales. Because of the multitude of electric vehicle barriers and complex market and policy drivers, there is no simple formula that explains the variance in electric vehicle uptake across European markets.