A LeasePlan study found that the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom are the best prepared countries in Europe for electric vehicles.

The LeasePlan EV Readiness Index measures the electric vehicle (EV) preparedness of 22 European countries. The factors measured are EV registrations, maturity of EV infrastructure, government incentives, and LeasePlan’s experience with EVs in each country.

"Although our EV Readiness Index shows that electric driving is becoming a viable option in an increasing number of countries, we still have a long way to go before we get everyone driving electric,” said Tex Gunning, CEO of LeasePlan. “Millions of European’s still live in countries where public charging infrastructure is woefully inadequate or in which they pay more taxation than drivers of fossil fuel cars. Transitioning to electric is one of the simplest things we can all do to help tackle climate change and everyone should be able to afford to go green. Policymakers must therefore step up and continue to invest in public charging infrastructure and to incentivize EV uptake until electric becomes the commonsense choice for all drivers."

The 2020 Index found that almost all the countries showed an improved score compared to last year, however, the rate of improvement varied significantly across Europe, LeasePlan noted.

One of the biggest improvements that this year’s index found was in the availability of public charging infrastructure, which saw a 73% improvement this year.

According to the LeasePlan, 5.7% of all newly registered vehicles are electrics across Europe, fueled by an average 60% increase in EV registrations across the continent between 2018 to 2019. Luxembourg, Ireland, and the Netherlands saw the biggest increase in EV registrations.  

Many European countries also saw taxation changes that benefited EVs.

LeasePlan noted that on average, EV drivers pay 40% less tax than drivers of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, although there are some countries where EV drivers pay more tax than those driving ICE vehicles.