Sales of fully electric cars surpassed those of petrol-only vehicles in the European Union for the first time in December, data from the auto industry group ACEA showed yesterday, even as hybrids held onto the largest overall share of the market.
The data underscores how the bloc is shifting slowly towards electric and hybrid vehicles, even as policymakers have proposed loosening emission regulations that should allow vehicles with combustion engines to stick around for longer.
Independent automotive analyst Matthias Schmidt said that the fewer petrol car sales partly reflect reclassification of some as “mild hybrids”, which still have petrol engines and only modestly contribute to lowering emissions.
“It will still take around half a decade before pure electric cars genuinely overtake combustion-engine models across the region, but this is nonetheless a start,” he said.
Fully electric vehicles made up 22.6 per cent of cars registered in the EU last month, edging out petrol cars on 22.5pc. Petrol-electric hybrids, including plug-in hybrids that can go limited distances on battery power alone, were the top group with 44pc.
The registrations are a proxy for sales.
In the broader European market, which includes Britain and Norway, car sales logged a sixth month of year-on-year growth.
Competition from Chinese brands such as BYD, Changan and Geely is intensifying the race for the European market, even as domestic carmakers like Volkswagen and BMW roll out new EV models.
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