Analysis · How to read market figures
Why the electric share looks almost twice as high in many statistics as it is
Two figures circulate about the Swiss vehicle market. One says a third of new cars are electrified. The other says almost sixty per cent. Both are correct. The difference lies in the definition.
An earlier version of this site counted everything that can drive electrically: electric cars, plug-in hybrids, range extenders, full hybrids. Result 80’234 of 138’656 vehicles, that is 57,9 per cent. Counting only those with a charging port leaves 34,2 per cent. Same raw data, same period.
The question is not whether a car can drive electrically. The question is whether it has to go to the socket.
Where exactly the line runs
Between «combustion car» and «electric car» lie four intermediate steps, and three of them are regularly mixed up:
- Mild hybrid (MHEV): A 48-volt starter generator supports the combustion engine when pulling away and recovers energy under braking. The car cannot drive electrically. It is a combustion car with a fuel-saving assistant, technically closer to a start-stop system than to an electric car.
- Full hybrid (HEV): Drives purely electrically, but only in bursts and up to about 50 km/h. A few hundred metres to a few kilometres at a stretch, then the combustion engine cuts in and recharges. Toyota states that a full hybrid drives electrically up to 80 per cent of the time in city traffic. That is a share of time, not a range. No socket.
- Range extender (REEV): Always drives electrically. The combustion engine never drives the wheels, only a generator that recharges the battery. Has a socket. Back on the market in Switzerland: Leapmotor C10 and B10, together 313 vehicles, Jan–Aug 2026.
- Plug-in hybrid (PHEV): 40 to 140 kilometres electric, has to be charged for the advantage to materialise. Left uncharged, it is a heavy combustion car.
- Battery electric (BEV): No combustion engine.
Two cases that are regularly confused
Toyota RAV4. It exists as a full hybrid and as a plug-in hybrid, and in everyday speech both are called «RAV4 Hybrid». The full hybrid has no socket and drives electrically only in bursts up to 50 km/h. The plug-in hybrid of the new generation has 22,7 kWh and reaches up to 137 kilometres WLTP, the previous generation had 18,1 kWh and 75 kilometres. In Switzerland 204 RAV4 were registered as plug-ins from January to August 2026. The full hybrid does not appear in these statistics at all, because it has no charging port.
BMW i3. The name stands for three different cars. The i3 from 2013 to 2022 was an electric car. The i3 REx variant additionally had a small two-cylinder engine as a generator, so a range extender with a socket. And from mid-2026 a completely new i3 arrives as a saloon and Touring of the Neue Klasse, purely electric again. Anyone looking at an advert for a «BMW i3» has to check the model year and the equipment, not the name.
For the purchase decision the gradation is not gradual. A mild hybrid changes nothing about the filling station, range, servicing or tax. A full hybrid noticeably lowers consumption in city traffic, but likewise changes nothing about the fact that you drive to the filling station. A plug-in hybrid needs a socket within reach, otherwise you are buying extra weight without a return. This site therefore counts at the socket.
Why the confusion is so persistent
Manufacturers rarely call their 48-volt systems mild hybrids. At the German premium brands they are called EQ Boost, an e-tron suffix, or simply «hybrid». In the underlying evaluation, a «C 220 D 4MATIC», an «X1 xDrive20d» and a «GLC 220 d» appeared under full hybrid. All of them diesel engines with 48-volt support that do not drive a single metre electrically.
At Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Porsche these vehicles add up to a good 13’000 units. The entire difference between the two figures hangs on them.
Anyone reading an electric share should always ask one question: are full hybrids counted in?
What follows from this for the purchase
- With statistics: Check whether «electrified» or «with a charging port» is meant. In Switzerland the difference currently amounts to around 24 percentage points.
- With the advert: «Hybrid» in the title says almost nothing. What counts is the electric range. If no figure is given, or one below five kilometres, it is not a chargeable vehicle. A reliable test: does the car have a charging flap?
- With consumption: The rated consumption of a plug-in hybrid applies only with a full battery. Anyone who does not charge often uses more in reality than with the comparable pure petrol car — because of the extra weight.
- With resale: Used plug-in hybrids held their value best of all drivetrains in 2025 at +1,25 per cent, used full hybrids lost 1,2 per cent, used electric cars 8,3 per cent. Here too it pays to keep the categories apart.
What this site therefore does differently
The counter above counts only vehicles with a charging port: electric cars, plug-in hybrids with petrol and diesel engines, range extenders. Full and mild hybrids are left out, because the two categories cannot be separated cleanly in the available data. A narrower figure is better than an unclean one.
Data basis: auto-schweiz, ASTRA/IVZ register, reference date 31.08.2026, passenger cars CH and FL. Comparative figures on the full hybrid count from an own evaluation of ASTRA registration data for the same period. Information on full hybrid operation from Toyota Germany, vehicle data on the RAV4 plug-in from ADAC and motor1 (April 2026).
