France set out to supercharge its decarbonization strategy with electric vehicles, betting big on the idea that zapping tailpipe emissions was the fast lane to a greener future. But late in 2024, reality checked in: the country was missing roughly 300,000 electric cars compared to its official roadmap. That gap translates to almost a year’s delay in hitting the targets the government touted just months earlier.
Even more striking, the private car market has been cruising along reasonably well—demand remains solid despite the scaling back of some purchase incentives. The real bottleneck? Corporate fleets. Businesses, which were supposed to lead the shift under laws passed in 2019 and 2021, are sticking with gas and diesel at a much higher rate than intended. The result: a serious lag that’s tripping up France’s entire electrification plan.
A Significant Gap in France’s EV Goals
Behind the headlines, the numbers speak volumes. According to the Directorate General for Energy and Climate (DGEC), the country had about 1.5 million electric vehicles on the road by the end of 2024. Sounds decent, right? Yet the ecological transition plan expected closer to 1.8 million. That shortfall shows how steep the climb really is.
The DGEC’s own climate director, Diane Simiu, put it bluntly at a March seminar: “We’re below our objectives.” And it’s not just hindsight griping. Meeting France’s commitment to 15 million EVs by 2035 will demand turbocharged progress, especially since registration figures kept dipping under expectations as last year wrapped up.
Corporate Fleets Lagging Behind
It turns out private drivers aren’t the biggest drag—business fleets are. In 2023, only 11% of new company car registrations were pure EVs, compared to over 25% among individuals. That sluggish pace undermines Paris’s broader goal of swapping out older, polluting models for cleaner alternatives on a massive scale.
Why are companies dragging their brakes? A big culprit is cost. Even with tax breaks, fleets face higher sticker prices for electric cars and logistical headaches around charging infrastructure. Throw in concerns about range and suitability for longer trips, and fleets often default to familiar combustion-engine sedans and SUVs. But that’s a headache for climate planners, because company vehicles renew more frequently than personal cars and can drive rapid turnover when pushed.
The Law vs. Business Realities
Laws like the Mobility Orientation Act (LOM) in 2019 and the Climate and Resilience Act in 2021 specifically targeted fleets, mandating ever-increasing shares of low-emission vehicles. Yet translating legal text into boardroom decisions hasn’t been easy. Many companies lack clear charging policies or financial models that make EVs shine on the bottom line.
New Penalties to Accelerate Fleet Electrification
To break the logjam, the 2025 finance law introduced a fresh twist: steep penalties if firms miss greening quotas. Starting in March, any business with more than 100 vehicles must have at least 20% low-emission cars by the end of this year, rising to 40% in 2027 and 70% by 2030.
Don’t hit the targets, and you’ll pay up. The fine? Up to €5,000 per missing vehicle, capped at 1% of the company’s French turnover. It’s a toothy measure designed to nudge fleet managers off the fence—no more shrugging if the expense of an electric van looks steep. Missing the mark now carries real budget consequences.
Incentives and the Path Forward
On the flip side, France is poking around at tweaks to its incentive toolkit. With an eye on saving some €40 billion in the next budget, officials are reviewing the ecological bonus, social leasing schemes, and even the continent-wide eco-score that ranks new cars by environmental impact.
The ecological bonus, once the crown jewel of purchase support, could get trimmed or reshaped. Meanwhile, a second season of social leasing is slated for fall—promising affordable monthly rates on EVs for lower-income households, but details remain sketchy. And Paris is pushing to harmonize eco-score metrics across Europe to give consumers a clearer comparative picture.
All these adjustments are high-stakes. France still aims for those 15 million electric cars by 2035, and catching up means boosting registrations by at least 20% each year. That’s a tall order when corporate fleets are stalling and government budgets are tight. Yet without stronger incentives and stiffer penalties working in concert, the country risks falling behind other European frontrunners in the EV race.
