Denmark: EU’s EV country
Electric car sales in Norway have been a global benchmark for years. This time, we’ll leave the top spot aside and look at the second-place country, Denmark. The Danes are the benchmark in the European Union.
According to statbank.dk, electric cars accounted for 1% of new car sales in Denmark in March 2018. 7 years later, in February 2025, that number is already 67%.
Other European Union countries are years behind Denmark. Taking into account the 2024 results, the lag compared to Denmark is as follows:
2 years Malta, Sweden, Netherlands, Finland.
3 years Luxembourg, Belgium.
4 years Portugal, Austria, France, Ireland, Germany.
5 years Cyprus, Latvia, Romania, Hungary, Spain, Slovenia, Lithuania, Greece, Estonia, Czechia.
6 years Italy, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Poland and Croatia.
In theory, catching up is easy, as the selection of electric cars and the prices are much better than when Denmark started seriously switching to electric cars. The biggest factor, of course, is the country’s citizens themselves—they vote with their wallets if they want more CO2 or less CO2.
Chronology of Denmark’s records:
| 2018 March | 1% |
| 2018 September | 2% |
| 2019 April | 3% |
| 2019 September | 5% |
| 2019 December | 6% |
| 2020 March | 7% |
| 2020 September | 14% |
| 2020 December | 17% |
| 2021 August | 19% |
| 2021 September | 22% |
| 2021 December | 27% |
| 2022 December | 37% |
| 2023 September | 43% |
| 2023 November | 44% |
| 2023 December | 51% |
| 2024 August | 55% |
| 2024 September | 57% |
| 2024 October | 61% |
| 2024 November | 59% |
| 2024 December | 62% |
| 2025 January | 64% |
| 2025 February | 67% |
According to mobility.dk, the best-selling electric cars in Denmark in 2024 were Tesla Model Y, Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5, Skoda Enyaq, Tesla Model 3 and Audi Q4.