Britain is now the second largest market in Europe for new battery electric cars, according to registration data covering 38 European countries, yet the continent as a whole is splitting into two very different halves.

The UK’s 473,348 new BEV registrations in 2025 put it behind only Germany, which managed around 545,000. France was third on roughly 331,000, followed by Turkey on 187,000. Norway took 173,000, the Netherlands 156,000, Belgium 144,000, Denmark 126,000 and Spain 105,000.

Italy, one of Europe’s five biggest economies, mustered just 95,000.

Volume is only half the story, though. On share of new registrations, the UK led the big five economies at 23.4%, with France on 19.6% and Germany on 19.1%. Spain languished on 8.7% and Italy on 6.1%, both well adrift of the EU average of 17.3%.

Across the EU, roughly 1.9 million battery electric cars were registered last year, giving BEVs a 17.3% slice of the market according to Eurostat. Ten years ago the figure was 47,000 cars and 0.4% of registrations. It was still only 1.9% as recently as 2019, before passing half a million cars in 2020.

The Nordics are in a different league

Norway remains in a category of its own, with more than 95% of new cars registered there in 2025 running on batteries alone. EV Powered reported earlier this year that just seven petrol cars were sold in Norway during January, which tells you everything about how completely the market has flipped.

Denmark is next on 67.8%, then Iceland on 41.2%. Malta (37.6%), Finland (37.2%), Sweden (36.4%) and Belgium (34.1%) all cleared one in three.

At the other end, uptake is barely registering across much of eastern Europe and the Balkans. Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina all sit below 2%. Turkey is the outlier among EU candidate countries at 16.7%, comfortably ahead of Spain and Italy.

The full-year picture from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association shows Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France between them accounting for 62% of EU battery electric registrations.

Where the numbers get sobering is the total car fleet. No European country has more than one in three of its cars running on electricity, and most are nowhere near.

Norway leads again at 32%, with Denmark on 17.9%, Luxembourg 8.7%, Sweden 8.6% and the Netherlands 7.2%. Across the EU, battery electric cars make up just 2.9% of all passenger cars on the road. Germany sits at 4.1% and France 3.9%, while Spain manages 1.1% and Italy 0.9%.

In 16 of the 37 countries measured, electric cars account for less than 1% of the fleet.

Britain is further along than most, with more than two million EVs now registered on UK roads and a record month for battery electric registrations in March 2026. Even so, the gap between showroom share and what is actually parked on Britain’s kerbs will take another decade to close.