Despite a challenging year for the EU car market with an overall contraction of 4.6% in car registrations (mainly due to the impact of component shortages in the first half of the year), sales of new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) continued to grow. In 2022, the market share of BEVs expanded to 12.1%, a 3.0-percentage-point improvement compared to 2021.

This confirms the trend over the last six years, with BEV sales increasing 17-fold between 2016 and 2022. However, the pace of infrastructure roll-out is lagging way behind consumer demand for electrically-chargeable cars.

The number of public chargers in the EU grew by less than six times between 2016 and 2022. This means that the sales of electric cars have been growing almost three times faster than the build-up of charging points.

Key findings

• Over the past seven years, sales of electric cars have been growing more than three times faster than the build-up of charging points.
• Electric car sales increased nearly 17-fold between 2016 and 2022, whereas the number of public chargers in the EU grew by six times over the same period.

The number of public chargers in the EU grew by less than six times between 2016 and 2022 meaning that the sales of electric cars have been growing almost three times faster than the build-up of charging points.