Electric and hybrid vehicles made up 86% of all new car sales in Netherlands in 2025, marking a sharp rise from just 11% in 2018, according to new data released by Statistics Netherlands.
The figures show that fully electric cars accounted for 46% of total sales last year, followed by hybrid vehicles at 31% and plug-in hybrids at 23%. In comparison, petrol cars dropped to 13% of new sales, while diesel vehicles made up only 1%, Sustainability Online reported.
The shift is also visible on the roads. At the start of 2026, more than two million passenger vehicles in the country were either fully electric or hybrid, making up over one in five cars. This represents a 6% increase from the previous year.
Overall, the total number of cars in the Netherlands rose by 2% to 9.4 million, with growth largely driven by electric and hybrid vehicles. Among these, hybrid cars remain the most common, with around 800,000 units, while plug-in hybrids recorded the fastest annual growth of about 40%. Fully electric vehicles increased by 22% to nearly 700,000 units.
Over the longer term, the rise has been even more striking. Hybrid vehicles have nearly quadrupled since 2019, while the number of fully electric cars has grown fifteenfold over the past seven years.
Ownership patterns show that people aged 50 to 64 hold the largest share of electric vehicles, accounting for about 34%. In contrast, younger people aged 18 to 29 make up just 4% of owners. Among older groups, hybrids are particularly popular, with nearly 70% of those aged 75 and above choosing them over fully electric options.
