Efforts to develop clean vehicle technologies in Switzerland are embedded in actions to reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the transportation sector. The Swiss government has proposed to limit emissions of new vehicles to 130 grams CO2 per kilometer by 2015.

Although Switzerland is not part of the European Union, this proposed limit is in keeping with the EU Directive Regulation CE/443 of 2009 emissions standard to reduce CO2 emissions for new passenger cars.

The development in Switzerland is being driven at present in large measure by non-government stakeholders — all the utilities, EV importers, and the interested public.

New stakeholders, like the leading retail business chain Migros, are starting new business models for marketing electric vehicles. It is these actors that will set the electric vehicle market in motion.