Low-emission vehicles have gained ground on their more polluting counterparts among new cars registered in Europe throughout 2022. The ACEA's figures revealed that electric and hybrid vehicles accounted for 12.1% and 22.6% of these registrations respectively.
Those worried about climate change will have been glad to find out on Wednesday that low-emission cars rose in popularity in 2022 in spite of a general decline in the European automotive market share.
Hybrid vehicle registrations experienced an 8.6% increase in 2022, making it the second most popular fuel type for cars, with 1.6 million electric vehicles having also been registered in 2022, a 30% rise from 2021. Moreover, Belgian registrations for electric cars increased by 66% despite remaining skepticism on behalf of the country's motorists.
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In comparison, heavier-polluting fuel types saw a drop in new car registrations last year, which dented their dominance of Europe's car market share. Not only did the number of registrations for cars running on petrol dropped from 35.5% to 32.5%, but new diesel cars also fell from 19.7% to 16.4% in 2022.
Nonetheless, both still accounted for more than half of European car sales, which the EU will soon have to further address, after having announced in June that they plan on banning these fuel types from 2035 onwards.
