Only a few cars on Swiss roads are purely electric, and the fleet is still growing slowly. New taxes on e-cars are likely to slow down the switch in future. Anthony Patt explains how the mobility transition could nevertheless be accelerated.
07.11.2025 by Prof. Anthony Patt (Bild: AdobeStock / Montage ETH Zürich)
“Switzerland wants to electrify road transport in order to become climate neutral. From my point of view, this is the right t…
Only a few cars on Swiss roads are purely electric, and the fleet is still growing slowly. New taxes on e-cars are likely to slow down the switch in future. Anthony Patt explains how the mobility transition could nevertheless be accelerated.
07.11.2025 by Prof. Anthony Patt (Bild: AdobeStock / Montage ETH Zürich)
“Switzerland wants to electrify road transport in order to become climate neutral. From my point of view, this is the right thing to do – not because I like driving an electric car myself, but because I do research on this topic and can say with certainty that electromobility is the cleanest, cheapest and most practical way to reduce CO2 emissions in passenger transport to net zero by 2050.
Electric cars are becoming increasingly attractive: prices are falling. Over their lifetime, electric cars already cost less than combustion engines. Modern models have sufficient range. Nevertheless, e-mobility is only taking off slowly in this country.
Currently, 5.2 per cent of all cars are purely electric. By the end of September, the proportion of new registrations accounted for by electric vehicles was 21 per cent – trend rising, but below the federal government’s target of half of all new cars being electric by 2025. By comparison, in Denmark and Norway, which strongly promote the purchase of electric vehicles, the proportion is over 60 and 90 per cent respectively,
However, more subsidies for electric vehicles are currently out of the question in Switzerland – existing incentives are more likely to be reduced: Following the import tax in 2024, the federal government is planning a new levy on e-cars from 2030 with the aim of financing transport infrastructure when the revenue from the mineral oil tax on combustion engines dries up.
The new taxes will tend to slow down electromobility. I propose three political measures to nevertheless accelerate the switch to electric vehicles.
Firstly, barriers need to be removed. Switzerland does have a good public charging network. However, scientific studies show, that electric vehicles are only really practical if you can charge them at home overnight. If this is not possible, there is little point in having an electric vehicle. This is often the case for tenants who don’t have their own car park.
The problem: until now, there has been no right to charge in Switzerland. Such a right allows tenants to demand that the property owner install a charging station. But now something is happening: this summer, parliament recognised the need and instructed the Federal Council to draw up a law on the right to charge.****
Next, we should increase the proportion of electric vehicles as quickly as possible. This can also be achieved without direct subsidies. With the CO2 emission regulations for new vehicles, which Switzerland is adopting from the EU, policymakers have an effective means of curbing the registration of new petrol and diesel cars in favour of climate-neutral vehicles. The EU plans to lower the limit values to zero gramm CO2 per kilometre by 2035 at the latest. But there are faster ways: Norway wants to phase out combustion engines this year, while Denmark and Sweden are aiming for 2030.
In my view, 2030 would also be worth aiming for in Switzerland. An earlier end to sales well before 2035 increases planning security and reduces the risk of write-offs. Over a third of all new vehicles remain on the road for longer than 15 years.
Energy Week @ETH 2025
Electromobility and its role in the energy transition will also be a topic at Energy Week @ ETH 2025, which will take place at ETH Zurich from 10 to 14 November under the motto “Sharing responsibility for the future of energy”.
Finally, it makes sense to phase out old petrol and diesel cars quickly after 2030. One idea would be to repurpose the climate compensation programme for fuels: Today, importers have to reduce some of their CO2 emissions through offsetting projects – but it is becoming increasingly difficult to find suitable projects.
In future, incentives could be financed instead to phase out combustion engines earlier and replace them with electric cars. Such a scrappage scheme would reduce emissions in the country and could help to cushion the planned levy to replace the mineral oil tax from 2030.“
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