EU trade in electric and hybrid cars rose in 2025, with imports increasing to €45.1 billion and exports climbing to €64.7 billion.
Imports of hybrid and electric cars were up 4% from €43.4 billion in 2024, while exports rose 10% from €58.7 billion, Eurostat informed on Tuesday.
Electric and hybrid cars made up a larger share of overall EU car trade than in 2017, when they accounted for 10% of car imports and 3% of car exports.
Full electric cars accounted for 20% of EU car imports and 18% of exports in 2025, up from 0.8% and 1.1% in 2017.
Plug-in hybrid cars represented 17% of imports and 9% of exports in 2025, compared with 1.2% and 1.8% in 2017, while non-plug-in hybrids made up 23% of imports and 14% of exports, up from 8% and 0.3%.
Almost 40% of EU car production was electric or hybrid
Almost 40% of the 12.6 million cars produced in the EU in 2025 were electric or hybrid — 4.8 million vehicles — up from 3.9 million in 2024, according to Eurostat.
Of the cars produced in 2025, 17% were electric, 7% were plug-in hybrids and 14% were non-plug-in hybrids.
The production value of electric and hybrid cars was €139 billion in 2025, up from €123 billion the year before.
China was the EU’s largest import partner for electric cars, accounting for 42% of all electric car imports, followed by South Korea at 27% and Japan at 9%.
The UK was the biggest export partner for EU electric cars, taking 35% of exports, followed by the United States and Norway at 14% each.
