LONDON (UK) – The EU saw sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars almost trebled to over 1 million vehicles last year, accounting for more than 10% of overall sales, according to data.
The latest sales figure shows that electrified vehicles are becoming more mainstream after years of being a niche market. The spike has come at a tine when overall EU car sales plunged nearly 24% to 9.9 million because of COVID-19 lockdowns.
Sales of self-charging hybrid cars climbed 59% to 1.182 million last year while petrol and diesel vehicle sales fell 37% and 32% respectively, according to data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). Petrol cars remained the biggest seller, however, accounting for 48% of all EU sales.
As well as having to meet stringent new EU carbon emissions targets, carmakers benefited from government subsidies for electric vehicles as part of pandemic recovery programmes, especially in France and Germany.
Sales of fully-electric vehicles more than doubled to 538,772 from 247,854 a year earlier.