Major Developments in 2023
Between 2000 and 2023, the road vehicle stock (excluding mopeds) increased by 41%, showing a marginal increase of 2% from 2022. Passenger cars accounted for around three-quarters of this stock.
A total of 258,919 passenger cars were put on Swiss roads in 2023, an increase 10.2% over 2022 but still 20.3% below the 2019 pre-pandemic level. Sales of combustion engine cars remained quite like those of 2022. The global growth was mainly driven by the continuous rise of BEVs, HEVs, and PHEVs in both, sales, and market shares. This trend is also encouraged by the CO2 emissions targets stipulated by Swiss law. The average emissions of new passenger cars were 121 grams of CO2 per kilometre in 2022. Given the developments mentioned above, this figure is expected to be below the target of 118 grams in 2023.
Electric Vehicles on the Swiss Market
Although the rate of expansion has slowed somewhat compared to previous years, the share of newly registered battery electric vehicles – BEVs1 (20.9% ) continues to grow. This is notable as Switzerland provides no direct national purchase incentives and only modest support at the cantonal and local levels, mainly through reduced or no vehicle registration tax.
The surge in BEVs has led to the electric vehicle trend in recent years. However, plugin hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) made a slight recovery, reaching 9.2%2 of new registrations in 2023, up from 8.3% in 2022. At the end of 2023, just over 172,000 pure electric passenger cars were on the road in Switzerland, representing 3.6% of the total car fleet (PHEV: 1.8%).
The share of electric light commercial vehicles also continued to increase in 2023, ending up just under 13%. This represents an improvement of around 3 percentage points from the 9.5% share in 2022.
Recent developments in the regulatory framework
The Federal Act on a Secure Electricity Supply from Renewable Energy Sources approved by the Swiss parliament in September 2023, aims to accelerate the development of renewable energy. The Swiss people will have to vote on it on June 9th, 2024. Several changes have some impact on electric mobility, for instance, the access to flexible assets in the grid that should allow for intelligent management of facilities.
As solar and wind power are becoming key contributors to the electricity grid, giving grid operators more flexibility to deal with consumption and production peaks is essential for optimising the grid. This bill on a secure electricity supply improves the legal framework and provides incentives for individuals to enter into contractual agreements with their grid operators. This will notably allow the operator to manage the consumer’s charging station in exchange for contractually defined benefits.
Additionally, this should help to promote the development of vehicle to everything (V2X) in Switzerland, as the battery in electric cars can be used to store energy or feed it into the grid. The new bill also foresees an exemption from grid charges for storage devices, such as electric vehicles via vehicle to grid(V2G).
Partial revision of the CO2 Act
The partial revision of the CO2 Act also has significant implications for the mobility sector. In line with recent developments in the EU, the Swiss parliament has decided to tighten the carbon emission targets for newly registered passenger cars, vans, and trucks. From 2030 forward, the target for passenger cars will be 49 grams of CO2 per kilometre. The new act is expected to be ratified by parliament in 2024. It may be the subject of a referendum.
Vehicle duty act
Since its introduction in 1997, electric vehicles have been exempted from the 4% automobile duty levied on the import price of vehicles for passenger or goods transport. This exemption aimed to create market incentives for the development of electric mobility. As part of a budget adjustment concept, the Federal Council decided to remove the exemption as of the 1st of January 2024. Given the recent rise in the share of electric vehicles in total car imports and the convergence in prices, this incentive is no longer considered necessary. Although its removal could potentially slow down the growth of electric mobility, no strong backlash is expected.
Charging infrastructure developments
The rapid spread of electric trucks has put pressure on the government to accelerate the development and expansion of the existing charging network. The share of newly registered medium and heavy-weight electric trucks (> 3.5 tonnes) reached 8.5% in 2023. This increase from 4.7% in 2022 places Switzerland just behind Norway (11%) among European countries. In response to this recent uptake, a group of interested parties met to discuss the development of the charging infrastructure; namely, importers, grid operators, transport companies, trucking associations, and government agencies. Their report estimates that the total capacity required for the fast-charging hubs in Switzerland will be around 140 MW by 2030. The focus was to determine how many fast-charging hubs would be needed to meet the future demand, and where these hubs would need to be located.
Meanwhile, the development of truck charging infrastructure is also supported by the Climate Protection Act passed in 2023. The law requires all sectors to achieve zero emissions by 2050. To this end, the government will provide financial support for various innovative projects between 2025 and 2030. Given the low overall market penetration of electric trucks so far, around 1% in 2023, it is still considered an innovative technology. For this reason, charging infrastructure for electric trucks will be eligible for government subsidies. However, certain requirements will have to be met, notably having a net-zero roadmap, or adhering to one.
Concerning other vehicles, a study on the development of the charging infrastructure for passenger cars up to 2050 was published this year. The Swiss Confederation actively supported the research group made up of 81 experts from 51 organisations involved in this field (energy, mobility, automotive, real estate, local authorities, etc.). Within this framework, they agreed on a common model describing how the Swiss charging network should be structured in 2035. The main benefit is that stakeholders are now contributing to infrastructure development with a common vision. This coordination encourages investment and makes it more secure by reducing uncertainty about what others will do.
Electricmobility roadmap
In late 2018, key representatives from the automotive, mobility, energy, and real estate sectors, as well as members of the federal government, cantons, cities, and municipalities signed the electromobility roadmap . Together and voluntarily, they have committed to work on concrete measures favourable to the development of electromobility. Achieving the 2022 targets ahead of schedule prompted the roadmap community to define more ambitious goals for 2025: (i) 50% BEV+PHEV in new car registrations by 2025, (ii) 20,000 publicly accessible charging stations and (iii) easy and grid-friendly charging at home, at work and on the road.
The situation in 2023, although quite positive, shows that there is still a lot of work to be done to meet the targets. For the first goal (i), the cumulative share of BEVs and PHEVs was close to 30%. Although this share has increased steadily over the past few years, the pace needs to pick up to reach the 50% mark. Progress towards the second quantified target (ii) is well underway. By the end of 2023, around 13,000 charging points were publicly accessible: almost 4,000 more than in 2022.
In agreement with the electromobility roadmap community, the Confederation has encouraged its members to work on the following 4 “master measures”:
• Charging in multi-unit residential buildings
• District charging
• Charging at point of interest
• Circular economy of batteries
The idea is that the interest groups concerned by each of these 4 topics take responsibility for developing shared solutions, and this is within the framework of round tables and workshops involving their representatives at the highest level. This is facilitated and accompanied by the federal government
Outlook
Switzerland continues its efforts to decarbonise the transport system. Numerous measures are in place, notably the electrification of vehicles and the promotion of the shift to more sustainable transportation modes. While the market for early adopters was saturated quite quickly, a further expansion of electromobility to a more price-sensitive majority depends much on the available car models and the individual charging situation. Most Swiss people are tenants and a large share of them live in apartment buildings. The availability of charging infrastructure in such situations remains a top priority.
