Electric cars, the key to reducing emissions and meeting climate change targets, have increased their market share in Europe, data from Friday showed, as the region prepares to move away from gasoline and diesel.
According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which brings together large automobile manufacturers, battery electric vehicles more than doubled their share of new vehicle sales in Europe in the second quarter.
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In the three months from April to June, fully electric vehicles accounted for 7.5 percent of new vehicle sales in Europe, compared to 3.5 percent in the same period of the previous year.
In absolute numbers, sales of battery-electric vehicles across Europe have more than tripled to 210,298 cars.
The ACEA said there were significant increases in the region’s four major markets, led by sales that more than quadrupled in Spain and Germany.
The data is released a week after the European Commission presented plans for an effective sales ban on new gasoline and diesel vehicles from 2035.
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She believes such a move is necessary for Europe to meet its mid-century goal of becoming carbon neutral and meet its goals under the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global temperature increases.
The ACEA also noted that sales of various types of hybrid vehicles have skyrocketed, viewed by some as a transition technology as it can reduce emissions from standard gasoline or diesel vehicles.
“Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) had an even more impressive second quarter of 2021, with new registrations up 255.8 percent to 235,730 units,” ACEA said. This increased their market share to 8.4 percent.
The gasoline car break-in
Sales of hybrids that cannot be charged from the power grid also more than tripled to 541,162 vehicles and, with a 19.3 percent market share, remains the largest category of alternative-powered cars.
Meanwhile, new gasoline and diesel vehicle registrations rose in the second quarter of last year, given the low number of vehicles sold, when many European countries had severe business restrictions due to the pandemic.
But in terms of market share, which shows the relative weight of current consumer choices, both gasoline and diesel fuels have seen huge losses.
Diesel’s market share fell from 29.4 percent to 20.4 percent.
Gasoline, which in the second quarter of last year still accounted for the majority of sales at 51.9 percent, recorded a steeper drop to 41.8 percent.
The data also comes as a growing number of automakers unveil their plans to switch to all-electric vehicles as policy makers say the days of the internal combustion engine are numbered.
Daimler was the latest and announced on Thursday that it would only introduce new electric car platforms from 2025 in order to prepare for a complete changeover by 2030.
