High earners buy nearly half of Dutch electric cars

The Netherlands' transition to electric vehicles is being primarily driven by its wealthiest households, according to new data from the national statistics office CBS. In 2025, the top 10% of earners purchased nearly 75,000 electric cars and plug-in hybrids, comprising more than a quarter of the total. This group accounts for nearly half of all plug-in car sales when the next bracket down is included.

Meanwhile, the lowest-earning 10% of households bought around 6,000 electric vehicles, making up just 2% of the total. The poorest fifth also bought mostly older cars, with two-thirds of their purchases being over a decade old, while diesel cars were most popular among the lowest earners. These findings reflect the affordability of cars in the Netherlands, where the majority of used cars sold are petrol, with nearly 1.4 million of the 1.7 million transactions in 2025 using this fuel type.

The government is set to address this disparity by implementing a scheme for lower and middle-income households from late 2026 onwards. The program, supported by a €52 million budget over three years, will subsidize second-hand electric cars for eligible families. The policy aims to correct the imbalance in electric vehicle subsidies, which have largely benefited wealthier households thus far.