Fully-electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for 86% of all cars sold in the Netherlands last year, according to new data from Statistics Netherlands.
This compares to 11% in 2018, the data showed.
Of all new cars sold in 2025, 46% were fully electric, 31% were hybrid vehicles (HEVs) and 23% were plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).
In contrast, petrol cars accounted for 13% of new car sales in the Netherlands in 2025 (compared to 75% in 2018), while diesel cars accounted for 1% of 2025 sales.
One in five cars
As of the start of this year, more than two million passenger cars in the Netherlands were either fully electric, hybrid, or plug-in hybrid, representing more than one in five cars on the road, and representing a 6% increase compared to the previous year.
The total number of passenger cars on Dutch roads rose by 2% year-on-year, to 9.4 million, with the growth largely led by fully-electric vehicles, HEVs and PHEVs.
Of all cars with an electric motor, HEVs are the most common, accounting for around 800,000, while PHEVs have seen the most year-on-year growth, of around 40%. The number of fully-electric vehicles grew by 22% to close to 700,000 units.
In terms of longer-term trends, meanwhile, the number of hybrid vehicles has almost quadrupled since 2019, while fully electric vehicles have increased by a factor of 15 over the past seven years.
Electric vehicle ownership
Of the 1.3 million electric vehicles that are registered to private individuals in the Netherlands, the largest share are held by people aged 50 to 64, accounting for just over one-third of owners (34%), while young people (aged between 18 and 29) are the least likely to own a vehicle with an electric motor (4%), Statistics Netherlands said.
‘Hybrid vehicles are more popular among people aged 75 and over than among other age groups,’ Statistics Netherlands noted. ‘Nearly 70% of people in this age group who opt for an electric vehicle, choose a hybrid vehicle. The majority of people aged 65 to 74 also opt for this type of car.’ Read more here.
