Battery-electric vehicle (BEV) registrations across Europe increased 54.2% in August, with fully electric cars accounting for nearly one-third of new vehicle registrations and the market moving ahead of earlier forecasts for 2026, The Economic Times reported.
BEV registrations across 16 major European markets reached 202,833 units during August, giving fully electric vehicles a 30.5% share of the new-car market, according to data from E-Mobility Europe, New Automotive and Fier Automotive.
The strong monthly performance has taken cumulative BEV registrations for the year to more than 1.67 million, representing a 33.1% increase compared with the corresponding period in 2025.
The latest figures indicate that Europe’s electric vehicle market is exceeding earlier expectations. Transport & Environment (T&E) had projected a 23% BEV share for the European Union this year, while Rho Motion had estimated a share of around 21% across Europe.
BEV registrations across the 16 markets are also 33.1% higher so far this year. According to the groups, sales of fully electric vehicles have already surpassed forecasts that had been made for the wider plug-in vehicle market, which includes both BEVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
France recorded a 38.3% BEV market share in August, with 36,159 fully electric vehicles registered during the month. Germany reported 68,980 BEV registrations, taking its electric vehicle share to 32.5%.
Several smaller European markets continued to record particularly high levels of BEV adoption. Norway registered the highest share at 98.7%, followed by Denmark at 85.9%, Finland at 52.3%, the Netherlands at 48.9%, Belgium at 46.2% and Portugal at 36.1%.
Chris Heron, secretary general of E-Mobility Europe, said the focus now should be on maintaining policy certainty and continuing implementation to sustain the momentum in electric vehicle adoption and support Europe’s position in the sector.
