- Europe’s EV market is accelerating, with June growth outpacing the already strong first half.
- Germany still easily leads by volume, but several smaller markets posted record electric car sales.
- Adoption remains uneven, with mature EV markets slowing as lower-share countries gain momentum.
More than 1.24 million fully electric cars were sold across Europe during the first half of 2026, marking a continued rise in EV demand on the continent and a 33.7% increase over the same period last year. Growth was even stronger in June, when EV registrations across 17 European markets rose 39.5% year over year to 275,060 cars.
The data comes from E-Mobility Europe and New AutoMotive, which says these markets represent roughly 90% of the combined EU and European Free Trade Association new-car markets. EVs made up 25.6% of all new cars registered there last month—over one in four.
Electric cars outsold non-hybrid gasoline models in Europe for the first time in December. Then they increased their EU market share to 19.3% in January despite the overall car market shrinking, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) By the end of the first quarter, more than 732,000 EVs had been registered across the EU, UK, and EFTA, up 26.2% year over year, the organization said.
The market with the largest rise in June EV sales was France, with 55,831 EV registrations, equating to a 29.6% share of its new car market. Spain had 14,559 EV registrations, giving fully electric models an 11.3% share of the total new car sales. Slovenia and Czechia also reached record highs for both EV sales and market share during the same month.
Several countries posted record monthly EV registrations in June, including Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, and Finland, while electric cars accounted for more than half of new-car sales in Ireland.
Germany was still the largest market by volume with 84,057 new EVs in June, giving them a 28.4% share. H1 registrations rose 48.6% this year to 367,388. First-half registrations nearly doubled in Italy, although BEVs only accounted for around 6.6% of its market.
By share of new cars, Norway still leads with 96.5% EV sales in June and 97.6% in the first half of the year. H1 growth in Norway was pretty modest at 1.3%, and EV registrations actually fell in some countries, such as the Netherlands (down 18.7%) and Sweden (down 10.6%). The latter still had an H1 EV share of 37.8%.
Finland came close to joining Ireland above the halfway mark, with EVs accounting for 48.9% of June registrations. Luxembourg hit 35.4%, Belgium 37.2%, and the Netherlands 43.5%, despite the latter having the sharpest H1 sales decline in the bulletin.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, EVs made up just 5.2% of June registrations in Poland, 8.1% in Czechia, and 10.1% in Italy. That spread reveals just how uneven Europe’s EV transition remains, even as the bloc’s total numbers are showing sustained growth.