Fuel types of new trucks: diesel 95.8%, electric 0.5%, alternative fuels 3.6% share full-year 2021
Brussels, 8 March 2022 – In 2021, diesel continued to dominate sales of new medium and heavy commercial vehicles in the European Union, accounting for 95.8% of the market (96.5% in 2020). Electrically-chargeable vehicles made up 0.5% of new truck sales across the region (up from 0.4%), while alternative-fuel vehicles held a market share of 3.6% (compared to 3.0% in 2020).
Diesel and petrol trucks
Last year, registrations of new diesel trucks in the EU1 increased by 13.6% to reach 255,099 units. With the exception of Cyprus, all EU markets posted growth, including the major ones in Western Europe: Italy (+21.9%), Spain (+7.1%), France (+4.9%) and Germany (+4.8%). In Central Europe nearly all countries saw double-digit gains. Poland was the third biggest market for diesel trucks in the EU, as sales increased by 56.4% to 30,827 units.
By contrast, only 190 petrol trucks were sold across the EU last year, a drop of 9.5% compared to 2020, resulting in a total market share of 0.1%. With 141 units sold (+7.6%), Finland accounted for the vast majority of all petrol sales.
Alternatively-powered vehicles (APV)
Overall in 2021, registrations of new electrically-chargeable vehicles (ECV)2 grew by 26.6%, going from 982 units in 2020 to 1,243 electric trucks in 2021. Looking at the major EU markets, Spain recorded the strongest growth (+137.5%), followed by France (+88.5%), while sales remained stable in Italy. Germany saw modest growth (+15.8%), but with 987 units sold it accounted for the vast majority of all new electric trucks in the EU. The Netherlands came second with 75 units registered (+82.9%). As a result, the share of ECVs in new truck sales increased from 0.4% in 2020 to 0.5% last year.
Registrations of new hybrid electric (HEV) trucks in the EU saw a significant decrease, with sales falling by 55.9% to 67 units. The market share of hybrid trucks shrank from 0.1% in 2020 to 0.03% of total EU truck sales in 2021.
Alternative fuels, which include natural gas, LPG, biofuels and ethanol, accounted for the vast majority of alternatively-powered trucks sold across the EU in 2021, with a total market share of 3.6% (up from 3.0% in 2020). Demand increased by 40.7% across the region, totalling 9,688 units sold last year. The main markets for alternative-fuel trucks were Germany (2,258 units; +37.5%), France (1,858; +20.0%) and Poland (1,596; +119.2%).
Overall in 2021, registrations of new electrically-chargeable trucks grew by 26.6%, going from 982 units in 2020 to 1,243 electric trucks in 2021.
1 Data for Bulgaria, Lithuania and Malta not available
2 Includes full battery electric vehicles, fuel-cell electric vehicles, extended-range vehicles and plug-in hybrids
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About ACEA
- The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) is the Brussels-based trade association of the 14 major car, van, truck and bus producers in Europe.
- The ACEA commercial vehicle members are DAF Trucks, Daimler Truck, Ford Trucks, Iveco Group, MAN Truck & Bus, Scania, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, and Volvo Group.
- Visit www.acea.auto for more information about ACEA, and follow us on www.twitter.com/ACEA_auto or www.linkedin.com/company/ACEA/.
- Contact: Francesca Piazza, Senior Statistics Manager, fp@acea.auto.
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About the EU automobile industry
- 13.0 million Europeans work in the automotive sector
- 11.5% of all manufacturing jobs in the EU
- €374.6 billion in tax revenue for European governments
- €101.9 billion trade surplus for the European Union
- Over 7% of EU GDP generated by the auto industry
- €59.1 billion in R&D spending annually, 31% of EU total
