Dutch road-vehicle mileage rises as car fleet grows

Dutch road vehicles travelled almost 153.5 billion kilometres in 2025, up 1.1% on the previous year, as growth in the number of cars more than offset a small fall in the distance covered by each car, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) says.

The total was 2.3% higher than in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. Passenger cars accounted for 80.1% of all road-vehicle kilometres. Their combined mileage rose by 1.6 billion kilometres, or 1.3%, in 2025.

The number of passenger cars increased by 2.1% over the year, while the average distance travelled per car fell by 0.8%. CBS says the figures are preliminary and come from a revised series based on vehicle odometer readings.

Electric-car mileage rises

Fully electric cars made up 10.8% of all car kilometres in 2025, up from 8.9% in 2024 and 1.2% in 2019. The number of kilometres travelled by electric cars rose 23.1% year on year. Petrol cars still accounted for most car travel, at 62.4%, although their share fell from 65.4% in 2024.

More than half of car kilometres were made by Euro 6 vehicles, the cleanest category of cars with combustion engines, CBS says. Zero-emission vehicles accounted for 10.8% of the total.

Private motorists accounted for 77.6% of car mileage. Drivers under 30 covered the highest average distance by age group, at 13,600 kilometres, while people aged 70 and over averaged 7,200 kilometres. CBS cautions that the figures are provisional.