A long-standing pioneer in electrifying its mobility, the City of Zurich presented at the beginning of the summer a plan of 13 measures to further accelerate its transition.
In June 2025, the City of Zurich published a “Comprehensive Concept” on electric mobility. It is based on the “3V” strategy (Avoid, Shift, Make compatible), which consists of avoiding certain trips by promoting proximity, shifting flows to more efficient modes of transport, and making mobility more compatible with the environment, notably by adapting speeds and promoting climate-friendly powertrains, in particular electrification.
To support this transition, the municipality has defined a plan of thirteen measures, structured around five axes. It intends first to lead by example by electrifying its own fleet, then to decarbonize traffic by supporting e-taxis, cargo bikes and electric car-sharing. It also plans to develop a charging infrastructure accessible to everyone, to strengthen communication and cooperation with citizens, businesses and the research community, and finally to create a regulatory framework favourable to accelerate the transition.
Enough to give a boost to mobility that is already highly committed in the canton, the Swiss leader in electric vehicle sales with nearly 25% of new registrations in 2024. For a long time, the Canton of Zurich has been a pioneer in transport electrification. In 2022, the city’s population approved the carbon neutrality objective for 2040 by 75%. This ambition is part of the “Urban Space and Mobility 2040” strategy, which sets three major targets: reduce distances traveled within the territory by 10%, reduce individual car trips by at least 30% and increase the share of sustainable modes of transport to 85% by 2040.
Given such determination and such a structured programme, where do we stand in French-speaking Switzerland, and more particularly in large urban areas such as Lausanne and Geneva? Is there anything to be inspired by in Zurich’s actions for our own cities?
According to Switzerland’s 2050 Climate Strategy, emissions from the transport sector must decrease by 37% by 2030 and be reduced to zero by 2050 compared with 1990. In this field, Switzerland aligns with European directives on reducing emissions from internal combustion vehicles and supports the transition of public transport companies to electric vehicles.
In 2023, transport accounted for one third of CO₂ emissions, mostly linked to private cars. Electric mobility is progressing, but represented only 4.2% of the vehicle fleet in 2024. According to Swiss eMobility, German-speaking Switzerland is ahead of French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino in electric vehicle sales. Zurich leads the way with 24.9% of sales, followed by Solothurn (24.1%) and St. Gallen (23.7%). In Romandy, Valais is in the lead with 17.9%, while Geneva stands at 14.3%.
On 11 June 2025, Bern took a decisive step by adopting a motion submitted in 2023 by Green Liberal National Councillor Jürg Grossen, establishing a “right to a socket” for rental housing and condominiums. The bill, being prepared by the Federal Council, aims to guarantee tenants and condominium owners the possibility of installing an electric charging station, subject to technical and economic feasibility.
This right (but not an obligation) is crucial, because nearly 80% of charging is done in private settings — home or workplace — according to eMobility. It should therefore provide the long-missing legal certainty in rental buildings or condominiums. A.R.
Overall, the trend in French-speaking Switzerland is quite similar to Zurich’s ambitions. It also implies reducing the role of the private car in favour of public transport and switching to climate-friendly modes of travel.
“We build charging stations so that people buy an electric car, not because they already own one,” explains Gislain Grosjean, Sustainable Energy Project Manager of Yverdon.
In Lausanne, the Climate Plan published in 2021 sets precise objectives: reduce travel by 10% by 2030, develop active mobility through new cycling axes and pedestrianisation of central sectors, increase the use of public transport and reduce the share of the private car from 32.8% in 2021 to 15% in 2030. Residual mobility must itself be electrified, thanks to a multiplication of charging stations in public space and incentives for their installation on private property.
In Yverdon, the municipality is also betting on a dense network of public chargers, with nearly 130 charging points planned by the end of 2025 and 120 more by 2030. The stated objective is clear: to guarantee each resident a charging point less than 500 metres from their home, roughly a five-minute walk. “We build charging stations so that people buy an electric car, not because they already own one,” explains Gislain Grosjean, Sustainable Energy Project Manager of Yverdon.
At the cantonal level, the subsidy model was revised in May 2025. Aid for the installation of private chargers was removed in favour of increased support for publicly accessible infrastructure, notably in car parks, on streets or near shops and leisure venues. The canton also funds municipalities that wish to carry out strategic studies to plan their actions in electric mobility.
However, as Geoffrey Orlando, Romandy representative of the eMobility association, points out, “some municipalities still hesitate to invest in public space for fear of attracting additional traffic. Conversely, others now make it a priority.”
In Geneva, Administrative Councillor Marjorie de Chastonay reminds that municipalities have limited powers in mobility matters. The City only acts on so-called non-structuring neighbourhood networks and must, for the rest, negotiate with the Canton. It is in this context that it adopted a Climate Strategy in February 2022 in which mobility occupies an important place.
As in Zurich, one of the main axes is to electrify the municipal fleet, with the aim that half of the City’s vehicles be electric by 2030. At the same time, the Municipality wants to strengthen public transport to offer a credible alternative to the car, while developing car-sharing, cycling and walking through the expansion of cycle and pedestrian networks. The Climate Strategy also plans to remodel public space by transforming parking spaces into green areas or pedestrian and cycle zones. Finally, the City encourages electrification of the private fleet and aims to halve the distances travelled by car by 2030.
“With a proportion of tenants approaching 82%, one of the highest rates in the country, it is difficult, despite our subsidy scheme, to dispel prejudices about access to home charging,” explains Bernard Gay, e-mobility project manager at the Cantonal Office for the Environment.
The magistrate also points out that the State Council approved in June a municipal master plan on e-mobility. This recalls that while electric vehicles reduce emissions, they do not solve space and congestion problems. The text therefore specifies that “the cantonal climate plan and the municipal climate strategy aim primarily and as quickly as possible to prioritise decarbonised modes that occupy the least space possible (walking and cycling) or that allow transporting the maximum number of people […].” The objective is thus to reduce the modal share of the private car from 45% in 2015 to 23% in 2030.
Concerning the installation of charging stations, the strategy intends “to support e-mobility while continuing the objective of requalifying and decongesting public space […]. The installation of charging stations on public land must be very strongly limited in order to guarantee the coherence of the objectives.” Marjorie de Chastonay welcomes the arrival at the federal level of the “right to a socket”, which favours the development of chargers in private and public underground car parks.
In addition, Bernard Gay, e-mobility project manager at the Cantonal Office for the Environment, provides the following analysis on this canton, a pioneer in defining a strategy in favour of e-mobility. “With a proportion of tenants approaching 82%, one of the highest rates in the country, it is difficult, despite our subsidy scheme, to dispel prejudices about access to home charging.”
The canton has more than 880 public charging points, of which 400 were installed by the Parking Foundation and more than 340 by SIG. Unfortunately these infrastructures are not very visible because they are largely installed underground, “which reinforces the false idea of a lack of chargers” at the end of the lake. Geneva also has another specificity: plug-in hybrid vehicles represent 50% of the total electric vehicles. By 2030, the canton has set itself the target of reaching 40% electric vehicles.
Although Zurich is regarded as a leader in e-mobility, with higher adoption rates than in French-speaking Switzerland, the public policies implemented on both sides of the Sarine are generally aligned on common objectives, consistent with the Federal 2050 Climate Strategy.
In German-speaking Switzerland, a greater openness to innovation seems on the other hand to play a decisive role, alongside economic, political or cultural factors, in the pace of adoption observed. Those who make the leap rarely go back, which is a sign that the issue goes beyond technology to touch habits and acceptance of change.
However, e-mobility is not the be-all and end-all of transport policies and must be addressed holistically. Replacing internal combustion vehicles with electric models will neither be enough to achieve carbon neutrality, nor to solve the problems of congestion and sharing public space. Strategies must therefore above all encourage a shift to public transport and active mobility, while electrifying the residual share of motorised trips.
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