More than 1 million plug-in cars in the Netherlands

© Tineke Dijkstra
In the first quarter of 2025, the number of plug-in cars in the Netherlands surpassed 1 million for the first time. That means that more than one in ten passenger cars in the Netherlands is now a plug-in car. Plug-in cars include both fully electric cars (594 thousand) and plug-in hybrids (410 thousand). Previously, plug-in cars were more popular among business drivers, but in Q1 2025 private owners made up the majority for the first time. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports this based on new figures on motor vehicles in the Netherlands.

On 1 April 2025, there were a total of 9.3 million passenger cars in the Netherlands. Most passenger cars are still petrol-driven. At the start of 2025, three-quarters of passenger cars had petrol engines. However, the share of petrol-driven cars was 1.3 percent lower in Q1 2025 than in the same quarter of 2024.

Number of plug-in cars up by one-third over the past year

On 1 January 2025, the number of plug-in cars was up by 33.3 percent compared to one year earlier. The number of ‘regular’ hybrid cars rose by 23.9 percent (these are hybrid cars that are not in the ‘plug-in’ category). The number of cars with diesel engines continues to fall, and was down by 12.3 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year.

More private individuals with plug-in cars than business drivers for the first time

For the first time in Q1 2025, there were more plug-in cars in private ownership (503 thousand) than owned by businesses (442 thousand). Plug-in cars remain popular among business drivers, however. 39 percent of cars owned by businesses are plug-in cars, compared to 6 percent of privately owned cars.

Among privately owned cars, the number of fully electric cars (245 thousand) and the number of plug-in hybrids (258 thousand) are fairly similar. Among business drivers, fully electric cars (324 thousand) far outnumber plug-in hybrids (118 thousand).

Among private households with a plug-in car, 46 percent have just one plug-in car, while 4 percent have more than one (and no cars with an internal combustion engine at all). 50 percent of households with a plug-in vehicle also have at least one car with an internal combustion engine, in addition to one or more plug-in cars. In most cases, that is a petrol-driven car.

15 percent of total kilometres driven were in plug-in cars

In 2024, plug-in cars in the Netherlands covered a total of just over 17.7 billion kilometres. Of that total distance, 10 billion kilometres were driven by business drivers.

Of the total number of kilometres driven by Dutch passenger cars, nearly 15 percent was driven in plug-in cars. In 2019, that share was just 3 percent.