Thinking about getting an electric car in Spain? Wondering about the costs, the efficiency, the incentives and the charging issues and deciding if it’s really worth it? Read on to find out more.
According to the latest data available from Verti insurance company, by the end of 2024, the number of electric and hybrid vehicles in Spain had reached 599,877 units. And during the first four months of 2025 sales had hit 60,423 EVs, representing a 54.9 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024.
The evidence suggests interest in electric vehicles is growing rapidly in Spain. Whether it’s as a result of drivers looking for a more environmentally friendly option of moving around, or that they feel they should change their car to avoid increasingly punitive restrictions for combustion engine vehicles in the future, attitudes are changing.
So is it actually worth getting an electric car in Spain in 2025?
Price
Electric cars cost significantly more to buy than traditional petrol vehicles. Depending on the model, they’re between €5,000 and more than €18,000 more expensive.
Prices are coming down, however. According to data from the Electricar VO survey prepared by coches.net, prices fell below €31,000 by the end of the first half of 2025 due to an increase in sales by over 50 percent.
The cost of an electric car greatly depends on the region you buy it in. Data from Coches.net from April 2025 shows that the most expensive region to buy an electric car was Navarre, where it would cost you an average of €40,528, followed by Aragón (€37,302) and then Murcia (€35,467).
La Rioja was the cheapest region to buy an electric car at €24,477, followed by Madrid at €29,081.
But remember, it’s not all about the initial cost of the car, you need to look at the overall expenses of the upkeep and the efficiency too. This premium should be offset by fuel savings, so, in principle, the more miles you drive, the more cost effective it is.
To give you an idea, travelling 100 kilometres in an electric vehicle costs approximately 13 kWh, while a conventional car that consumes five litres per 100 km would need 45 kWh to do so.
During off-peak hours, a kWh costs no more than €0.15 (including taxes) and gasoline currently (end of August 2025) costs €1.47/litre.
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Subsidies and incentives
There are also several subsidies, incentives and grants available in Spain for anyone wanting to purchase an electric car.
The Spanish government’s Moves III 2025 programme has a budget of €59.3 million and offers subsidies for the purchase of electric or hydrogen vehicles, as well as subsidies for the installation of recharge points. You can get between €1,100 and €7,000 depending on the type of vehicle. It is available to apply for up until December 31st, 2026.
If you live in Valencia, La Rioja or Castilla y León, you can even claim the purchase of your electric car back on your annual tax return.
Other than incentives offered for purchasing electric vehicles, there are also considerable fuel savings, which can range between €700 and €1,200 for every 15,000 km travelled. Electric vehicle owners also qualify for up to 75 percent discount on yearly road tax.
Major cities such as Madrid and Barcelona also offer further bonuses such as not having to pay for parking in certain zones, so it’s worth checking in your city or region for further advantages.
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Repairs and upkeep
The upkeep of electric cars is a lot less than traditional cars. You don’t have to pay for mechanical transmissions, oils or lubricants and repairs are minimal compared to what could go wrong with a petrol car. In fact you can save around 25 percent on repairs compared to a conventional vehicle, which can add up to more than €2,000 over 10 years.
However, the high-capacity batteries that electric cars use represent a significant expense when replacing. Most sources say that these batteries will need replacing around every 160,000 kilometres.
Distance you can cover
Distance is one factor that may concern some people wanting to buy an electric car. It’s true that there are big differences between the mileage that electric vehicles can reach compared with traditional cars.
Fortunately, in recent years this gap has been closing, with electric vehicles now potentially being able to reach 400km on a single battery charge.
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Charging points
This is another sticking point when it comes to deciding if an electric car is right for you or not.
In order to be able to install a charging point at your home, you need a grounded 230/400 VAC supply point, a main electrical control panel and a measuring device. However, if your garage is not located in the same place as your home, you will have to ask your distribution company for a new supply point.
Spanish law indicates that you must inform the community of owners of your building if you’re going to install a charging point, however they can’t prevent you from installing one as the electricity bill will be charged directly to you and they won’t have anything to do with it.
Installation costs approximately €1,200, although it is currently 70 percent subsidised.
You may also want to research the number of charging points in your region and work out how many you may realistically need to access on your journeys.
The distribution of charging points is still uneven in Spain, with only four communities accounting for 60 percent of the points according to statistics published by the Spanish Association of Car and Truck Manufacturers (ANFAC).
The latest Electromobility Barometer from Anfac, the National Association of Truck and Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, reported 47,892 publicly accessible charging points in operation at the close of the first half of 2025.
Catalonia has the most charging points in Spain with 11,026, followed by Madrid with 6,343, then Andalusia with 6,112 and then Valencia with 4,792. Cantabria and La Rioja have the least with 856 and 310 respectively.
Spain also has fewer electric car charging points that its neighbours. Spain is ahead of Italy, but remains far behind the European average.
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So is it worth getting an electric car in Spain in 2025?
According to Spanish bank BBVA, from a financial perspective, electric car buyers start to see a return on their investment on average four years after the initial purchase.
Other studies point to electric car buyers breaking even after 20,000km of use.
Further deductions, incentives and price drops may help to convince buyers.
Buying an electric car in Spain can be worth it in the long run but ultimately it depends on your personal circumstances, and you have to ask yourself questions such as: Will you have a charging point close by?, How much use will you get out of it?, Will you need it in emergencies or for long journeys?, will it be your only vehicle?, and so on.
Your answers will help you decide.
