Fuel types of new cars: battery electric 10.0%, hybrid 25.1% and petrol 36.0% market share in Q1 2022

Total registrations of new electrically-chargeable vehicles also rose during the first three months of the year. Battery electric vehicles almost doubled their market share compared to the same period last year – now making up 10.0% of all sales – surpassing plug-in hybrids, which account for 8.9% of the EU market. Diesel- and petrol-powered vehicles on the other hand continued to lose market share. Nonetheless, registrations of traditional fossil-fuel cars still dominated the market, with a combined share of 52.8%.

Petrol and diesel cars

From January to March 2022, registrations of diesel cars across the EU continued their downward trajectory, posting a sharp decline (-33.2%), reaching 378,009 units. Consequently, the market share of diesel-fuelled cars shrank by 5.3 percentage points compared to Q1 last year. All EU markets recorded significant losses, including the four major ones: France (-44.1%), Italy (-39.2%), Spain (-30.8%) and Germany (-20.2%).

Likewise, the market share of petrol cars contracted substantially during the same period – from 40.8% to 36.0%. Despite this drop, petrol cars remained the most popular in terms of volumes (808,039 units).

Alternatively-powered vehicles (APV)

During the first quarter of 2022, the sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the EU jumped by 53.4%, totalling 224,145 cars. Many EU markets recorded triple-digit percentage gains, with Romania posting the strongest growth (+408.0%). Of the four largest markets in the region, Spain saw the sharpest rise (+110.3%), followed by France (+42.7%) and Germany (+29.3%). Italy was the only EU market to post declines in BEV sales (-14.9%).

The registrations of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) slipped by 5.3% across the European Union during the first quarter of the year. Despite this, PHEVs still expanded their overall market share due to the drop in sales of petrol and diesel cars. PHEVs’ performance varied across the region’s four key markets: Germany and France posted declines (-13.2% and -6.1% respectively), whereas Spain and Italy recorded solid growth (+46.3% and +18.9% respectively).

With 563,030 cars sold from January to March, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) were the most common fuel type after petrol in terms of volume in the EU, with an increase of 5.3%. With the exception of Italy (-6.3%), all major markets contributed to the positive performance in the region. EU sales of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) continued their downward trend, posting another double-digit fall (-56.0%), as many markets recorded declines. By contrast, LPG-fuelled vehicles saw substantial growth (+48.6%), counting 67,717 units registered in EU. This increase was mainly driven by double- and even triple-digit percentage gains in all four key markets: Germany (+287.7%), France (+76.6%), Spain (+41.5%) and Italy (+17.3).

Battery electric vehicles almost doubled their market share compared to the same period last year – now making up 10% of all EU car sales.