Guide · Buying
Buying an electric car in Switzerland: the decision in five steps
Anyone who wants to buy an electric car decides in a different order than with a petrol car. The first question is where the car will be charged, and only then comes the model. This article goes through five steps, from the charging situation to the battery, and names for each the wattradar page where the calculation is open.
Step 1: where you charge
The charging situation drives running costs more than the choice of model. At 12’000 kilometres a year and 18 kWh per 100 kilometres, electricity at home costs CHF 555 a year (official household tariff, profile H5, net, plus VAT). Charging only at fast chargers costs CHF 1’631. A petrol car of the same size with 6,8 litres per 100 kilometres costs CHF 1’746 in fuel that year, with unleaded 95 at CHF 2.14. The derivation is in the article on the EV without a wallbox of your own.
Even with fast charging only, CHF 115 a year remain against the petrol car. If you rent or live in condominium ownership, ask the property management before buying whether a connection is possible; Swiss eMobility, HEV and SVIT have written guides for this under built2charge. Public charging sites, prices and coverage are shown in the Charging tab.
Step 2: what the car costs over the holding period
The purchase price is one item among several. Energy, motor vehicle tax, insurance, tyres and depreciation come on top. The cantons levy the motor vehicle tax, and it differs widely for electric cars; the article on the motor vehicle tax gives an overview. The Total cost tab calculates every item over the holding period, with your own kilometres and an open calculation. If you are torn between buying, leasing and renting, the comparison is in the Leasing or rental tab.
Step 3: new or used
With a used car the battery moves to the centre, because it is the most expensive part and cannot be judged from outside. The Used or new tab weighs depreciation, battery condition and residual value against each other. Independent checks of the condition exist; under the title battery certificate for used EVs EnergieSchweiz lists a measure of its electric mobility roadmap. Which tests exist and what they cost is in the article on the battery check.
Used cars in Switzerland also come from abroad. How many and which is described in the article on used imports. How the value develops depending on the purchase date is calculated in the article on depreciation.
Step 4: which model
Which electric cars are common in Switzerland is shown by the model radar, with registrations per model and brand. The registration figure tells you what others bought. Whether a model suits your commute and your parking space is not something it decides. Consumption and range deserve a second look: in the ASTRA data sheet a model often has dozens of variants with scattered values, and the figure in the brochure applies to one of them.
Step 5: battery and warranty
The warranty sets when a battery loss counts as a defect. We read the importers’ terms for the fifteen largest brands in the plug-in market. Ten of the fifteen state eight years or 160’000 kilometres, whichever comes first, and a guaranteed remaining capacity of 70 percent. For the others at least one of these three figures differs. The line for your brand is in the article on the battery warranty.
What the state of health of a battery is, how it is measured and how LFP and NMC cells differ is explained in the Battery tab.
What we do not know
- What a dealer offers you for a specific car. No open source records importers’ discounts and promotions, and no figure on this site states them.
- How far your car gets in winter. We do not hold a dated measurement series with a source for it, so there is no winter figure here.
- How often a public charger in your area is free. The federal series knows the stock and no charging sessions.
What this means for a purchase
- Settle first where you charge. Between charging at home and fast charging only lie CHF 1’076 a year.
- Compare over the holding period. The purchase price alone leaves out tax, energy and depreciation.
- Have the battery of a used car checked independently. That happens before you sign.
- Read the brand’s warranty and not the brochure. Duration, kilometre limit and remaining capacity are in the terms of the Swiss importer.
Sources: household tariff: ElCom tariff data 2026 via LINDAS, profile H5. Charging prices: Swisscharge, «Charging Prices at Swisscharge», as of January 2026, retrieved on 11.09.2026. Fuel: TCS, average fuel prices, unleaded 95 of 19.09.2026. Warranty terms: the documents of the Swiss importers, filed with address and retrieval date in batteriegarantie.json ↗. Battery certificate: EnergieSchweiz, electric mobility roadmap. Guides for properties: built2charge by Swiss eMobility, HEV and SVIT.
Transparency: the annual amounts are calculated and not surveyed, that is consumption times price without charging losses and without start fees, idle fees and monthly fees. The fast-charging price is a median across the networks of a single roaming card and is not weighted by use. The assumptions on kilometres and consumption are the same as in the «Total cost» tab. Every figure in this article is recalculated on every npm test and searched for in the text, in all four languages.
