French electric car sales surge amid fuel price increases, Digi Mart USA News (France): Rising pump prices are prompting French drivers to change their habits, with many turning to electric vehicles for their next purchase. New passenger car registrations rose 7 percent in October 2026 compared with the previous month, reaching 149,341 vehicles, according to the Automobile Platform (PFA).
Electric and hydrogen models now make up 41 percent of new car sales, rising to 49 percent when plug-in hybrids are included. Marie-Laure Nivot, head of automotive market analysis at the firm AAA DATA, said October 2026 confirmed a profound transformation of the automotive energy mix, with the market share of new electric cars rising from 24 percent to 41 percent in one year, according to AFP.
Brand performance varied. Stellantis gained 2.8 percent and Renault fell 4.1 percent, while Tesla jumped 35.3 percent.
The PFA noted that over the first ten months of 2026, with 1,384,293 registrations, the French new passenger car market was up 4.37 percent on a raw data basis.
Demand for charging also increased. During the All Saints’ Day holiday travel period, between October 17 and November 1, ultra-fast charging networks saw strong peaks in use.
German operator Ionity, with more than 170 stations and about 1,000 charging points in France, reported a 32 percent rise in sessions in the country, twice its European average growth.
Dutch operator Fastned, which has about 70 open stations in France, recorded a 22 percent increase in daily charging sessions over the same period compared with the first two weeks of October.
