Passenger car registration figures remain disappointing both in Europe and in Italy, whereas they proved stable in the United States and on the rise in China alone. Nonetheless, according to a recent Italian research, the good news for manufacturers is that EV sales are gaining ground everywhere.
How mobility became smarter
Released by the Politecnico di Milano university in cooperation with the multi-disciplinary consultancy and training team of Energy & Strategy, the Smart mobility report 2025 was recently presented at the Milano Bovisa Campus. One of its most important aims was that to describe an exhaustive picture of the major trends in transportation from a domestic, European and global perspective. Of course, the evolution of the EV market has represented a major aspect of interest for researchers and that was one of the topics on which professor Vittorio Chiesa, chairman at the Polimi School of Management, focused during its opening speech. In fact, although car registrations are still weak – and decreasing both in Italy and across the whole European Union – EVs seem to be gaining ground and their performance, over the first half of 2025, proved moderately encouraging.
China vs. rest of the world
5.6 million new vehicles have been delivered in Europe since January and 24.2% of those (1.4 million) were EVs; in Italy sales experienced a 4% decrease, if compared to the same period, last year, but electric vehicles marked a +40% growth. The 90,000 units sold suggest that the local scenario is dynamic, driven by such brands as Stellantis, whose BEV market share grew by 9.1%; BYD (+3,2%) and Hyundai-Kia (+3,5%). At the same time, Tesla lost more than ten percentage points and the loss was possible due to political and ideological reasons too, given Elon Musk’s controversial role in Donald Trump’s presidential staff. Professor Chiesa also pointed out that worldwide, between 2023 and 2024, output volumes were up in China (+5.2%) and India (+4.7%); while, as Italy observed a 43% fall, the only European countries to record a modest progress were Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic. As for electric vehicles alone, 12.4 out of 17.3 million overall units were manufactured in the People’s Republic, often by European and Western makers.
Future horizons
Nonetheless it is noteworthy that EU imports from China reached a 21% high (from 2% in 2019) and at the same time exports have marked a 12% fall, from 25% in 2021 to 13% last year. It is therefore clear that, according to Vittorio Chiesa, as the Chinese market expands, European brands are not strong enough to penetrate it and seize the opportunity it offers. Meanwhile, here, manufacturers are struggling to solve the issues of a record-low plant utilisation rate and margin reduction. Over the years China’s growth pace will necessarily slow down and new markets will possibly emerge as the Eldorado for automotive brands, namely Latin America and South-East Asia.
As Scandinavian countries maintain a leading position in terms of EV sales; Italy, Spain and Poland are the worst performers, with their 10, 8 and 4 EVs per capita. The European average is 25 cars per inhabitant. Despite these discouraging figures, over the first two quarters of this year EV sales were 24.3% up in the whole continent and expressed a 51.5% increase in Italy, as the associate professor of Accounting, finance and control at Polimi Paolo Maccarrone reported. Light and heavy-duty electric vehicles faced a slowdown in sales and the impression is that to electrify the road freight sector is a most challenging mission: traditional ICE vans and trucks prove very difficult to replace.
Looking for a favourable ecosystem
A further hurdle is represented by recharging stations, whose availability is yet unsatisfactory, especially across such member States as Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain and, once again, Italy. Some 1.2 million public charging points are now accessible in the EU, compared to 746,000 in 2023. In Italy they recorded a 34% growth to 66,000 units, 22% of which are fast, but 61% were installed in the most industrialised Northern regions. As a major driver for the green transition, electric mobility needs long-term measures and visions, to achieve further popularity in Europe: incentives are no longer enough. On top of that, as other speakers noticed, the goal must be that to create a favourable environment for EVs to develop. Omar Imberti, segment development EVSE infrastructure at ANIE, the Italian association of electronic and electrotechnical industry, suggested that both producers and consumers are not looking for purchase bonuses anymore, urging instead for a broader and more effective general strategy. Smart recharging systems, whose impact on the national and continental energy grid is much lower, could play an important part in this scenario, in his opinion. MOST, the Italian National centre for sustainable mobility, pursues the mission of encouraging and supporting the development of modern, sustainable, and inclusive solutions for the entire territory, by cooperating with universities, on the one hand, and companies on the other. The Centre took part in the Polimi event with its urban mobility spoke coordinator Gaetano Fusco. His view is that – if the aim is to enhance the competitiveness and effectiveness of the e-mobility sector, while supporting its growth – policy-makers and manufacturers should collaborate to foster the entire supply chain and relevant skills. As for the electricity grid, which so far results underutilised, a significant increase in EV registrations could potentially put it under serious pressure: it is then mandatory to scale it, so to be able to respond to any possible consumption peak in years to come.
