Electric cars

⚡ The shift to electric cars

How many of the cars sold in Spain are already electric? The answer comes from the microdata of the Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT), which records every car registered along with its engine type.

Electric cars in new car sales: Spain 20 EU 27France 26Portugal 38Germany 30Italy 13US 10China 53 Norway 97Denmark 71 % of new cars (battery electric and plug-in hybrids) · 2025 · IEA (Global EV Outlook) vía Our World in Data All countries →

Monthly market share of new cars

New cars by engine type

Diesel went from more than half of all sales in 2015 to a residual share; its place was taken first by petrol and then by hybrids. Non-plug-in hybrids (HEV) include mild hybrids (ECO label); extended-range electric vehicles (REEV) are counted with plug-ins.

The latest year is incomplete (up to the last month published).

Who buys new cars?

Fewer than half of new cars are bought by private individuals. The rest go to fleets: companies (which include self-registrations by dealers and brands, the "zero-kilometre" cars), renting, car rental, and taxis and ride-hailing (VTC). In 2025, private buyers took 47.3% of registrations; plug-ins were 22.4% of their purchases, compared with 17.3% in fleets.

Private buyers: registered to a natural person (including the self-employed) without renting. Companies: legal entities, without renting or rental. Renting: long-term lease contracts, for companies or individuals. Rental: rental service without driver (rent a car). Taxi, VTC and others: public service (taxi, hire with driver, driving schools...). The latest year is incomplete.

CO2 emissions of new cars

Average type-approved emissions of new cars (g/km, with electric cars counted as 0). The rise up to 2021 has two causes: the switch from diesel (which emits less CO2 per kilometre) to petrol, and the change of type-approval cycle from NEDC to the stricter WLTP, which raises the official figures without the cars actually polluting more. Since then they have fallen as hybrids and electric cars have arrived.

Where are the most plug-in cars bought?

Share of battery electric and plug-in hybrids among new cars over the last 12 months, by the province of the owner's registered address. By default only private buyers' cars are counted: fleets are registered where they have their headquarters and distort the map (see the note below).

Where fleets are registered. A car is registered in the municipality of its owner's domicile, and renting and rental companies choose where to domicile their fleets. Vehicle tax (IVTM) is municipal: each town council can raise the minimum rate up to double, so many fleets are registered at a branch opened in a municipality with the lowest tax. That is why villages such as La Hiruela, Venturada or Patones (Madrid) or Aguilar de Segarra (Barcelona) register many more cars each year than they have inhabitants, and according to the AEA association ten municipalities account for around 35% of company-vehicle registrations. Those cars are then driven all over the country; with "All, including fleets", Madrid and Barcelona appear far above what their residents buy. Source: AEA, study on the IVTM (2026). The municipalities, one by one, in The fleet tax havens.

Sources and notes

• DGT – Vehicle registration microdata (MATRABA), monthly since January 2015. Only ordinary registrations of new passenger cars (including off-roaders) are counted; imported used cars, which are also registered in Spain for the first time, are excluded.
• Engine type combines the electric vehicle category (BEV, PHEV, REEV, HEV) with the propulsion recorded in the vehicle's technical data sheet. Gas includes LPG and natural gas.
• The figures may differ slightly from those of the industry associations (ANFAC, which uses its own date and classification criteria). ANFAC also separates private buyers, companies and rental firms; here the channel comes from the owner (natural or legal person), the renting flag and the type of service of each vehicle in the DGT file.
• For the latest month, until the DGT publishes the monthly file (around the 15th of the following month), figures are calculated from its daily files.
• The international comparison (full year, battery electric plus plug-in hybrids) comes from the IEA – Global EV Data Explorer (CC BY 4.0), which rounds recent shares to whole numbers; that is why it may not match the DGT figure exactly. Norway and Denmark appear as a reference (dashed border): they are the countries where electric cars are most widespread.

Data updated 7 minutes ago