Electric vehicles accounted for a record 49% of new passenger car registrations in Sweden in October 2026, as adoption continued to grow across passenger and commercial vehicle segments, according to data from transport industry organisation Transportföretagen.
A total of 12,665 new electric passenger cars were registered during the month, representing a 44.4% increase compared with October 2025, when battery-electric vehicles accounted for 34.8% of new registrations.
Between January and October, Sweden registered 103,963 new electric passenger cars, also setting a record for the period. Meanwhile, registrations of new petrol and diesel cars fell to their lowest January-October levels since 2006.
Ageing Vehicle Fleet Raises Concerns
Despite stronger electric vehicle sales, Transportföretagen warned that declining overall new-car sales could slow the transition to cleaner transport.
Vehicle deregistrations have fallen by 17.7% so far in 2026, indicating that older vehicles are remaining on Swedish roads for longer.
Tina Thorsell, head of social policy at Transportföretagen, welcomed the growing popularity of electric cars but highlighted the need to increase total new vehicle sales.
“It is gratifying that electric cars are becoming increasingly popular,” commented Tina Thorsell, head of social policy at Transportföretagen. “For car dealers and workshops, this means that the investments made in electrification have better prospects of becoming profitable.
“At the same time, the car trade has been in a state of decline for several years and more needs to be done to increase the total sales of new vehicles. We must not forget that the old cars that continue to roll on our roads mean both higher emissions and greater fossil fuel dependence than would have been desirable.”
Electric Heavy Truck Registrations Increase
Electrification is also gaining momentum in Sweden’s heavy truck market, although adoption remains relatively limited.
Between January and October 2026, 454 new electric heavy trucks weighing more than 4.25 tonnes were registered, compared with 303 during the same period last year. Electric models represented 8.4% of all newly registered heavy trucks.
Thorsell said the increase was encouraging following a slowdown in heavy truck electrification during 2025, but argued that substantially higher adoption would be needed to reduce emissions from road freight.
“The electrification of heavy trucks came to a complete standstill in 2025, and it is positive news that the market is now starting to ease up on quiet and emission-free road freight transport,” Thorsell added. “At the same time, the levels are of course far too low to make a real difference to the total. Heavy trucks account for a significant part of road traffic emissions and electrification has been identified as the way forward. The next government has a job to do here to further facilitate the electrification of heavy trucks.”
Electric Light Trucks Gain Market Share
The light commercial vehicle segment is also showing stronger demand for electrified models.
Electric vehicles accounted for 27% of new light truck registrations in October, while plug-in hybrids represented an additional 6%.
A total of 8,519 electric light trucks were registered during the first ten months of 2026, marking a 36.6% increase compared with the same period in 2025.
The latest figures indicate that electrification is expanding across Sweden’s vehicle market, although Transportföretagen says declining overall vehicle sales and the slow replacement of older vehicles remain challenges for reducing transport emissions.