Max Favilli

I didn't know.

I am exploring the space between why and why not.

Free Thinking

Finland crossed 50% electric. Germany and France are accelerating.

Nine months of national registration data. In Finland most new cars are now battery-electric, and in Germany, France and Spain the share rose faster between Q2 and Q3 than at any point this year.

Small-multiple area charts of monthly new car registrations from January to September 2026, battery-electric against everything else, for Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and China. Latest battery-electric shares range from 98.8 percent in Norway to 7.6 percent in Italy.

Every figure here is the battery-electric share of new cars registered that month, taken from each country’s own statistics.

  • The rise is broad, and it is speeding up. Germany, France, Finland and Sweden rose in every quarter of 2026. Norway and Denmark wobbled, but at 80–99% there is little room left to rise. The step from Q2 to Q3 was the largest so far: France +10 points, Finland +6.7, Germany +5.5, Spain +3.7.
  • Germany is not one good September. Its share rose almost every month: 22.0% in January, 21.9, 24.0, 25.8, 25.0, 28.4, 29.3, 32.4, and 34.5% in September.
  • Finland crossed a real threshold. More than half of new cars in Q3 were battery-electric, and 62% in September. Sweden is at 47%, on the official statistics.
  • Italy is the exception. 7.6% in September, below its own average for the year.

These are new registrations, not cars on the road. A car stays in service for well over a decade, so the fleet changes far more slowly than the showroom.

Sources: KBA, Traficom / Statistics Finland, SSB, Statistics Denmark, SCB, PFA / CCFA, ANFAC, UNRAE, CPCA. Figures retrieved 8 October 2026; current-year data are provisional.

evdataeuropecars

Discussion

This post isn’t on Substack or LinkedIn yet — if you have thoughts, email is the best way to reach me.