Record number of new e-cars on Swiss roads

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Swissinfo
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(© Keystone / Gaetan Bally)

With 10,329 registrations so far this year, Switzerland and Liechtenstein have more new electric passenger cars than ever before.

This is the first time the total hit the five-figure mark. The numbers reflect a 136.6% increase over last year’s fleet of new, completely electric passenger cars. What’s more, now e-cars represent 3.7% of all new cars in Switzerland and the principality next door, reported importer association Auto-Schweiz on Tuesday. “It’s one of the highest percentages worldwide,” said spokesman Christoph Wolnik.

The demand for hybrid vehicles is also on the rise, with growth of 75.4%. Over one in ten new cars in the two nations is either a hybrid or fully electric. Still, more than half of newly registered cars are 4x4s. The total number of new passenger cars registered this year was 276,641 as of the end of November. Switzerland has more than six million motor vehicles in total.

This past summer, car importers had to pay CHF30 million ($30.4 million) in fines into a national road fund after failing to meet vehicle CO2 emission objectives in 2018.

“The increase in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions is due in particular to the growing share of 4×4 vehicles (2018: 48.9% of total) and the decline in diesel vehicles,” the Federal Office of Energy said.

About Swissinfo

SWI swissinfo.ch – the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Since 1999, swissinfo.ch has fulfilled the federal government’s mandate to distribute information about Switzerland internationally, supplementing the online offerings of the radio and television stations of the SBC. Today, the international service is directed above all at an international audience interested in Switzerland, as well as at Swiss citizens living abroad.

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