Czech Republic had the second highest increase in electric vehicle sales in the EU in the first half of the year

Prague – The Czech Republic recorded the second highest growth in the number of new electric vehicle registrations in the European Union in the first half of the year. With a sales increase of 67 percent, it finished just behind Spain, where registrations rose by 84 percent. The entire European electric vehicle market grew by 22 percent. However, in terms of the share of electric vehicles, the Czech Republic still lags significantly behind, holding only 17th place with six percent. This is according to current data from the Transport Research Centre (CDV).

The effect of subsidies in the Czech Republic, according to the director of CDV Jindřich Frič, has been exhausted and growth will slow down. “Compared to the first half of last year, there was a significant year-on-year increase in registrations of battery electric vehicles in the Czech Republic by 67 percent to 6,910 vehicles. However, this growth comes from a low starting base. If we compare the current figures with the second half of last year (6,799 vehicles), when the effects of the subsidy program for companies were already fully manifested, the increase is minimal. This suggests that the growth dynamics will likely slow down,” Frič stated.

The average share of electric vehicles in new car registrations in the EU was 15.6 percent in the first half of the year. The highest is in Denmark (64 percent), Sweden (35.2 percent), and the Netherlands (35 percent). A higher share from the V4 countries was recorded by Hungary (7.9 percent), while lower shares were noted in Poland (five percent) and Slovakia (4.4 percent).

According to Frič, the increase in electric vehicle registrations in the Czech Republic is supported by a wider offer of more affordable electric vehicles, pressure to reduce emissions in corporate fleets, and gradually improving availability of public charging infrastructure.

In the first half of the year, the Czech market was dominated by the Škoda Elroq (1,470 registrations), followed by the Škoda Enyaq (956 registrations) and the Tesla Model Y (794 registrations). Currently, approximately 48,000 personal battery electric vehicles are operated on domestic roads, which have nearly 7,000 publicly accessible charging points available. (July 24)