Road vehicles - Stock, level of motorisation

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Stock of vehicles

Between 2000 and 2020, the road vehicle stock (excluding mopeds) increased by 36% to 6.2 million. Passenger cars accounted for around three quarters of this stock; for some time there has been a trend towards hybrid and electric vehicles. In 2020, 43 400 all-electric vehicles were registered, representing 0.9% of all passenger cars. The canton of Zug had the highest rate of electric vehicles at 2.0%.

A considerable increase has also been seen among motorcycles and light goods vehicles: their stock has risen by more than 50% since 2000.

In 2015, 65% of all households owned at least one bicycle. 7% of households had an e-bike.

Road motor vehicles in Switzerland

	2000	2019	2020 p
Total stock (without mopeds)	4 584 718	6 160 262	6 241 142
Passenger cars	3 545 247	4 623 952	4 658 335
of which petrol-driven	3 402 309	3 099 442	3 087 390
of which diesel-driven	141 863	1 382 645	1 379 077
of which hybrid vehicles (petrol-electric, diesel-electric)	0	98 399	133 708
of which all-electric vehicles	754	28 716	43 396
average age of passenger cars (years)	6.9	8.7	9.0
Passenger transport vehicles	40 260	83 054	88 293
Goods transport vehicles	278 518	440 795	452 187
of which light vehicles (up to 3.5 t)	229 339	387 991	399 935
of which heavy vehicles (more than 3.5 t)	49 179	52 804	52 252
Agricultural vehicles	177 963	193 834	195 082
Industrial vehicles	48 949	74 085	75 659
Motorcycles	493 781	744 542	771 586
Mopeds including fast E-bikes1	218 932	211 283	...

Note: stock as of 30 September, except mopeds (usually stock as of 31 December)
p provisional data
1) All e-bikes requiring a moped registration plate Sources: FSO – Moped survey, conducted by the cantons; FSO, FEDRO – Stock of road vehicles (MFZ)

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Level of motorisation

In 2019, there were an average of 541 passenger cars per 1000 inhabitants in Switzerland, with considerable regional differences: Particularly in urban agglomerations with a dense public transport network, the level of motorisation was considerably below the Swiss average.

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Public road transport vehicles

Approximately 6700 public road transport vehicles were registered in 2015. Four fifths of these vehicles were buses. Their stock has risen by 26% since 2000. In parallel, the stock of trams has increased by 5%, whereas the number of trolley buses has fallen by 15%. This decline is primarily due to the acquisition of larger vehicle combinations and larger vehicles.

Public transport vehicles

	1990	2000	2015
Total stock	5 833	5 668	6 736
Tramways	953	741	778
Trolley buses	697	646	548
Buses	4 183	4 281	5 410

Source: FSO – Public transport statistics (TP)

You can find more detailed information on public road vehicle stock in the:

• Cross sectional topic public transport

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Further information

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