Car fleets

Company cars hold the key to tackling road transport pollution. Despite making up a specific segment of the market, their footprint is massive:

- 59% of all new car registrations

- 78% of oil imports consumed by new cars

Because of their disproportionate climate impact—and the relative ease with which they can transition to electric vehicles—company fleets have long been considered the most accessible starting point for decarbonisation efforts across the EU.

Accelerating fleet electrification

The EU has proposed national-level electrification targets for large corporate fleets. But regulation is only half the story—taxation is the engine driving the transition.

For years, T&E research has highlighted a simple truth: tax reform is one of the most powerful levers for EV adoption. Widening the tax gap between polluting combustion engines and zero-emission vehicles boosts demand, unlocks private investment, and accelerates the scale-up of European EV manufacturing.

EU Automakers would benefit the most from quickly electrifying company cars. Electrifying corporate fleets isn't just an environmental win—it’s a major competitive advantage for European car manufacturers. Corporate buyers consistently favour locally produced vehicles:

73% of electric corporate cars registered in the EU (H1 2025) were assembled in Europe, compared to 63% in the private EV market.

Between January and June 2024, more than double the number of made-in-EU corporate EVs were sold compared to private ones (403,000 vs. 184,000).

T&E strongly supports the European Commission’s Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) proposal, which ties company car tax incentives to "made-in-EU" criteria to protect local manufacturing jobs and competitiveness.

Affordable zero-emission cars in the second-hand market

Electrifying corporate fleets isn't just about company drivers—it is the single fastest way to bring affordable electric cars to mainstream European households.

Corporate vehicles don't stay in fleet hands long. They enter the secondary market within 3 to 5 years—significantly faster than privately owned cars.

An ambitious EU fleet regulation will ensure a steady, reliable influx of well-maintained, relatively new zero-emission vehicles for everyday consumers. The stronger the law passed by co-legislators, the faster clean mobility trickles down to the broader public.

8 in 10 European citizens purchase their cars on the second-hand market rather than buying brand new. T&E finds that ambitious fleet electrification targets could unleash nearly seven million affordable used EVs for private buyers by 2035.

Charging infrastructure needs

Once a major bottleneck, Europe’s public charging network is now expanding faster than electric vehicle sales.

Contrary to lingering misconceptions, public charger deployment is no longer lagging behind. Supported by the EU’s Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR), charging capacity is staying well ahead of fleet adoption: