The Burrow
Sep 19, 2023
As many countries across the globe move towards being carbon neutral by 2050, electric vehicles have become more common for families and individuals to buy.
As experts in car insurance, we have gone in depth and looked at 29 OECD countries to see which are the least & most friendly for electric vehicles (EVs). To do so, we have looked at a variety of different metrics such as the price of electricity, how many charging stations are in use and whether a nation has promised to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars (among others) to score each country out of five.
Here is what we found.
Switzerland presented as a relatively unfriendly place for EVs. The country has 12,300 total charging stations and reported 59,000 EV sales in 2022. Switzerland’s place in the ranking was low as there is no clear date on when they plan to stop the sale of petrol cars, and no government incentives in place for the purchase of EVs.
Türkiye tied second with Portugal for being unfriendly for EV use. Türkiye has the most expensive energy prices within the index at US$0.67 per kWh, as well as having the second least number of EV sales in 2022 at 7,540.
Portugal had 5,160 charging stations with 34,000 EV sales last year. The nation’s energy prices were less than half the price of Türkiye’s at just $US0.29 per kWh. Interestingly, Portugal also has the intention to stop the sale of fossil fuel cars five years sooner than Türkiye, with the target years set at 2035 and 2040 respectively.
According to our metrics, Australia is also one of the least EV-friendly countries in the world. The nation only has only 2,570 charging stations and saw only 38,900 total EVs sold in 2022. Research indicates that last year, just 3.8% of new cars sold in Australia were EVs compared to the global average of nine percent.2
Based on our metrics, Norway is considered the most EV-friendly country of those we studied. The country did well for the number of EV sales, with there being 166,000 EVs sold in 2022. The country also has plans to ban petrol cars by 2025, which is the soonest of any country on our index. When it comes to petrol cars, Norway disincentivizes their purchase with a principle that ensures fossil fuel cars are taxed higher than EVs.1
France is the second most EV-friendly country on our list. The European country came in the top 10 for number of charging stations with there being 83,700 charging stations recorded. France also ranked fourth for the number of EV sales with there being 340,000 recorded in 2022.
The UK ranks third on our list for EV-friendly countries. Our data shows the country has the third largest number of EV sales, with 370,000 being purchased last year. The UK also landed in the top 10 for number of charging stations, recording 50,600 across the nation.
| Country | Total charging stations | Total EVs sold (2022) | Energy cost per kWh (USD) | Government Incentives | Plan to ban sale of new fossil fuel vehicles | Index score |
| Switzerland | 12,300 | 59,000 | $0.23 | No | N/A | 1.61 |
| Türkiye | 3,600 | 7,540 | $0.67 | Yes | 2040 | 1.73 |
| Portugal | 5,160 | 34,000 | $0.29 | No | 2035 | 1.73 |
| Australia | 2,570 | 38,900 | $0.23 | Yes | N/A | 2.14 |
| Austria | 15,600 | 47,000 | $0.50 | Yes | N/A | 2.18 |
| Chile | 660 | 1,500 | $0.19 | Yes | 2035 | 2.20 |
| Mexico | 2,076 | 8,400 | $0.10 | Yes | N/A | 2.25 |
| Ireland | 1,900 | 15,678 | $0.42 | Yes | 2030 | 2.35 |
| Greece | 2,990 | 8,300 | $0.27 | Yes | 2035 | 2.38 |
| Italy | 37,500 | 114,000 | $0.57 | Yes | N/A | 2.54 |
| Finland | 9,000 | 31,000 | $0.45 | Yes | 2035 | 2.55 |
| New Zealand | 680 | 28,200 | $0.19 | Yes | 2035 | 2.59 |
| Denmark | 9,500 | 57,000 | $0.57 | Yes | 2035 | 2.59 |
| Hungary | 2,147 | 11,407 | $0.11 | Yes | 2035 | 2.80 |
| Iceland | 1,030 | 11,900 | $0.14 | Yes | 2030 | 2.81 |
| Poland | 5,100 | 25,000 | $0.19 | Yes | 2035 | 2.88 |
| Belgium | 24,100 | 97,000 | $0.52 | Yes | 2035 | 2.95 |
| Germany | 977,000 | 830,000 | $0.55 | Yes | N/A | 3.07 |
| Israel | 2,770 | 43,000 | $0.16 | Yes | 2030 | 3.20 |
| Korea | 201,000 | 131,000 | $0.10 | Yes | 2035 | 3.30 |
| Sweden | 17,260 | 163,000 | $0.35 | Yes | 2035 | 3.34 |
| Spain | 102,200 | 82,000 | $0.37 | Yes | 2035 | 3.34 |
| Netherlands | 124,300 | 107,000 | $0.49 | Yes | 2035 | 3.38 |
| Japan | 29,400 | 102,000 | $0.24 | Yes | 2030 | 3.60 |
| United States | 121,000 | 990,000 | $0.18 | Yes | N/A | 3.64 |
| Canada | 20,900 | 114,000 | $0.12 | Yes | 2035 | 3.73 |
| United Kingdom | 50,600 | 370,000 | $0.41 | Yes | 2030 | 3.78 |
| France | 83,700 | 340,000 | $0.21 | Yes | 2035 | 3.88 |
| Norway | 24,100 | 166,000 | $0.12 | Yes | 2025 | 4.32 |
The country with the most EV charging stations in our Index was Germany, totalling 977,000. Of those, there are 964,000 slow charging points and 13,000 fast stations.
At the other end of the scale is Chile, with just 660 charging stations, broken down into 440 slow and 220 fast charging docks.
The United States of America recorded the largest number of sales in 2022, totalling 990,000. That’s made up of 800,000 Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) and 190,000 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs).
Conversely, Chile had the least number of EVs sold on our index, totalling 1,500 sales last year. There were 880 BEVs and 620 PHEVs sold.
Both Mexico and Korea have the cheapest energy prices on our list, costing US$0.10 per kWh.
Türkiye has the highest prices for energy, at US$0.67 per kWh. This means the country’s prices are 570% higher than Mexico and Korea’s.
Australia is one country that lacks federal incentives for EV purchase. Interestingly, at a state level there are incentives to purchase an EV in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Tasmania.3 For example, the New South Wales Government has plans to remove stamp duty on all EVs and Plug-In Hybrid Cars by 2027.4
In Europe, there are a variety of countries, including Belgium and Denmark,5 which do not offer direct incentives for purchasing EVs but do grant tax exemptions. In Belgium, electric car owners are exempt from paying a registration tax and annual road tax.6 Meanwhile in Denmark, there are a variety of different tax exemptions such as owners only paying 40% of the vehicle registration tax.
In the United States of America there is no federal ban to stop the commercial sale of fossil fuel cars. However, there are some states such as California, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Oregon that plan to stop the sale of fossil fuel cars by 2035.7
Interestingly, countries such as Austria, Germany and Italy have bucked the trend of other EU countries and have not given a clear date on when they will ban new petrol car sales.8
Whether you drive an electric vehicle, hybrid car or one with a fossil fuel engine, you should still take care to insure it from the unexpected. Compare the Market’s General Manager of General Insurance, Adrian Taylor, explains.
“It is important to make sure your car is insured when you are driving just in case the worst were to occur,” he said.
“From car accidents, weather events, theft, and other occurrences, having car insurance means you can have a financial safety net to help you get back on the road sooner by means of a payout or replacement vehicle, depending on your level of cover.
“Regardless of the car insurance policy you are looking to purchase, always check the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) to better understand any limits, exclusions, or restrictions.”
This dataset ranks 29 countries around the world for how friendly they are for EV drivers. To do this, we used five metrics. Once the data for the metrics was collected, the data sets were normalised to provide each country with a score between zero and one for each metric. The normalised values were added together to create a final index score out of five for each country. The countries were then ranked from highest to lowest based on their total scores, where a higher score reflected a better outcome for a country.
Data is correct as of 06/07/2023.