Electric vehicles overtake diesel vehicles among business drivers
The total number of kilometres driven by private individuals (i.e. natural persons) remained 0.8 percent below pre-pandemic levels, while for business drivers (i.e. vehicles registered to legal entities) the number was 3.4 percent below.
Sharp drop in distance driven in diesel vehicles among business drivers
Business drivers travelled a total of over 25.5 billion kilometres in 2023, which was an average of 20.5 thousand kilometres per car. There was a fall in the number of diesel kilometres driven, while the number of electric kilometres increased. In 2018, most kilometres driven by business drivers were in diesel-powered vehicles: over 13.6 billion. Five years later, however, that number had dropped by three-quarters. The number of kilometres driven in electric vehicles increased tenfold over the same period. On average, business drivers cover 20.3 thousand kilometres in electric vehicles compared to 24.8 thousand in diesel vehicles.
Business drivers also increasingly use petrol-powered cars (including petrol hybrid vehicles). The number of kilometres driven in petrol-powered cars was up by 50 percent in 2023 compared to five years earlier. Just over half (54 percent) of all business kilometres are driven in petrol-powered cars.
| Petrol (incl. petrol hybrids + ethanol) ( x bn) | Diesel (incl. diesel hybrids) ( x bn) | LPG (incl. LPG hybrids) ( x bn) | Plug-in hybrids ( x bn) | Fully electric (+ hydrogen) ( x bn) | Natural gas (LNG & CNG + natural gas hydrids) ( x bn) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 9.3 | 13.6 | 0.1 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
| 2019 | 11.4 | 11.8 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.2 |
| 2020 | 9.7 | 7.1 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 0.1 |
| 2021 | 11.1 | 5.5 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 3 | 0.1 |
| 2022 | 13.1 | 4.8 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 4.5 | 0.1 |
| 2023 | 13.9 | 3.6 | 0.1 | 2 | 5.9 | 0.1 |
Petrol is still preferred for private use
In 2023, private individuals drove a total of 94.0 billion kilometres in passenger cars, an average of 11.2 thousand kilometres per car. Petrol-powered cars have always been the favourite among private individuals, and that remains the case: 79 percent of the distance driven by private individuals was in petrol-powered cars.
The distance driven in diesel-powered vehicles fell by 36 percent compared to five years earlier, to 13.2 billion kilometres. Over the same period, the distance driven in electric vehicles increased from 142.6 million kilometres in 2018 to 2.6 billion kilometres in 2023. On average, private individuals drive 14.8 thousand kilometres in electric vehicles.
| Petrol (incl. petrol hybrids + ethanol) (x bn) | Diesel (incl. diesel hybrids) (x bn) | LPG (incl. LPG hybrids) (x bn) | Plug-in hybrids (x bn) | Fully electric (+ hydrogen) (x bn) | Natural gas (LNG & CNG + natural gas hydrids) (x bn) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 71.3 | 20.6 | 2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 2019 | 72 | 20 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| 2020 | 61.8 | 15.5 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| 2021 | 66.1 | 15.1 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.1 |
| 2022 | 71 | 14.9 | 1.3 | 2 | 1.6 | 0.1 |
| 2023 | 74.2 | 13.2 | 1.3 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 0.1 |