When Joana Mendes traded in her old diesel Golf for a fully electric car last spring, friends asked if she was worried about finding places to charge. "Now they ask me how much money I'm saving," said the Lisbon nurse. Numbers from Europe suggest Joana is part of a wave, not a trickle.
In June, Europeans bought 366,000 new fully electric cars — a 50 percent jump compared to last year and the highest number ever recorded in a single month. These cars, called BEVs (battery electric vehicles, meaning they run only on batteries, no gasoline), now make up 26 percent of all car sales in Europe.
Put another way: more than 1 in 4 cars rolling off European dealer lots last month had no engine that burned fuel.
The shift is showing up in the numbers. When you add plug-in hybrids — cars that can run on batteries but also have a backup gas engine — the share of electrified vehicles sold in June reached 37 percent. Add hybrid cars that can't be plugged in but still use some battery power, and a striking 72 percent of all cars sold in Europe had some form of electrification. Traditional gasoline cars dropped to 21 percent of sales. Diesel, once the backbone of European driving, fell to just 6 percent.
"BEVs now represent 71 percent of all plugin sales in June, the highest share since 2012," notes one analysis. In other words, even among people buying electrified cars, most are choosing models with no gas backup at all — a sign that pure electric is winning the argument.
The most popular electric car in Europe last month was the Tesla Model Y, with 34,480 registrations — up 43 percent from last year and the model's best result since March 2023. Chinese automaker BYD took third place with its Atto 2 model, part of a broader arrival of Chinese-made electric vehicles in European showrooms. Cheaper new models and high gasoline prices are pushing more buyers toward electric options.
Looking ahead, the trend seems likely to continue. The year-to-date share for BEVs is already at 23 percent — higher than the final result expected for 2025. Three affordable electric city cars (the Leapmotor T03, the Dacia Spring, and an upcoming new Renault Twingo) are poised to compete for the top spots in the smallest car category, the segment where electric has the strongest head start.
Europe's roads are changing faster than many predicted. For Joana Mendes and drivers like her, the question is no longer whether electric works — it's how much they'll save next month.