Work

Leaders in the development of electromobility – A multidimensional comparative analysis of European countries

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The rapid but uneven transition toward electromobility across Europe is fundamentally reshaping modern transport and energy policies. However, the lack of a unified implementation approach under the AFIR guidelines has outpaced the analytical tools available to assess national progress, with existing comparisons often relying on single-indicator metrics that distort relative market standing. To overcome these analytical limitations, this article develops a multidimensional index DEVCS for 33 European countries, utilising the latest 2025 data from the European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO). The methodological framework integrates 5 core indicators called EV adoption, infrastructure availability, spatial density, charging capacity and transition depth, through objective entropy weighting and the TOPSIS technique. Subsequently, hierarchical clustering is applied to map the structural topology of national ecosystems. When charging density is normalised by administrative land area, as is conventional, the indicator largely captures uninhabited territory, and entropy weighting inflates it to nearly half the index. Correcting the denominator to built-up land rebalances the weights and changes the leaders. Iceland, Norway and Denmark head the corrected ranking, the Netherlands falls from 1st to 4th. A stable leading group of 7 countries holds across weighting and clustering methods. GDP per capita and urbanisation are significant positive correlates, whilst raw population density is not. Testing provision against AFIR proves revealing: 32 of 33 countries already meet the fleet-based target, and those that clear it most comfortably have the least electromobility, because the requirement scales with fleet size. In most of Europe the binding constraint is no longer infrastructure but demand.

Source: Research in Transportation Business & Management

DOI: 10.1016/j.rtbm.2026.101860

Author: Sebastian Szymon Grzesiak

Institution: Wroclaw University of Economics and Business

Language: English

Topic: Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Sustainable cities and communities, Climate action

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,620