While electric cars continue to surge ahead, the number of petrol and diesel cars on Danish roads has fallen by close to 600,000 in five years. With Denmark’s green transition running well ahead of schedule, AutoBranchen Danmark‘s CEO argues that any adjustments to car taxation should be made with respect for the existing car fleet.
Electric cars have already overtaken diesel
Earlier this year, electric cars overtook diesel cars in Denmark by total number on the road. Electric cars will soon make up 25 percent of the country’s total car fleet, while petrol cars will only remain the majority for a little while longer.
With the overall Danish car fleet heading toward three million passenger cars, the number of petrol and diesel cars has, for the first time in many years, dropped below two million, according to figures from Bilstatistik.dk.
As of 20 September, there are 1,485,739 pure petrol cars on Danish roads, alongside 513,147 pure diesel cars, for a combined total of 1,998,886 petrol and diesel cars. Five years earlier, on 20 September 2021, that combined figure stood at 2,575,272, meaning there are now more than 575,000 fewer fossil fuel cars than back then. Beyond these nearly two million purely fossil fuelled cars, a considerable number of mild hybrids and plug-in hybrids on Danish roads also run on either petrol or diesel.
Moving faster than expected
The trend is unmistakable: electric cars continue to take up a growing share of the fleet. Today, they account for close to one in four cars on Danish roads, with more than 700,000 electric cars now registered in the country.
Gitte Seeberg, CEO of AutoBranchen Danmark, says the transformation of the car fleet is happening faster than anyone could have imagined, with electric cars gaining ground rapidly and petrol and diesel cars disappearing faster than expected too. As politicians consider how future car taxation should be structured, she notes that the 2020 agreement has simply worked as intended, with Denmark running well ahead of schedule as new electric cars arrive across a growing range of price points.
Seeberg adds that it will now be important to structure car taxes in a way that continues supporting the transition, including for groups in society who have not yet had the opportunity to make the switch to an electric car, but stresses this should not come at the cost of penalising the existing car fleet with new ongoing taxes that leave Danish car owners facing extraordinary losses in value.
Electric cars take centre stage at AutoBranchen Danmark’s annual meeting
The electric car’s growing role takes centre stage today as AutoBranchen Danmark holds its annual meeting in Brande. Internationally recognised car industry analyst Bill Russo will share his perspective on how competition from Chinese electric cars is affecting the car industry in Europe. The impact of electric cars on the aftermarket will also be up for debate, with further details available on AutoBranchen Danmark’s website.
