Of all cars in the European Union, 0.8 percent were fully electric in 2021. In three countries, including the Netherlands, EVs made up more than 2 percent of all cars. in relative terms, the Netherlands had the most EVs, in Greece the least.
In the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden alone, more than 2 percent of cars were fully electric. The figures come from the European car manufacturers association ACEA, which looked at the fleets of EU countries. This applies to all cars registered in a country, not the cars sold in a year.
The figures show that the number of EVs is increasing. In 2020, battery-electric cars still had a share of 0.5 percent. Even then, the Netherlands was at the forefront and incidentally also the only EU country whose share of EVs was 2 percent or higher at the time.
Other countries where the number of electric cars was still low in 2021 are Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Cyprus. Here the share of EVs was at 0.1 percent. In Belgium, 0.9 percent of all cars were fully electric. Hydrogen cars are not in the figures, presumably because the proportion is too small. In 2021, the share of EVs was greater than that of plug-in hybrid cars. in 2021, the EU fleet consisted of PHEVs for 0.7 percent. 2.3 percent of all cars were plug-free hybrids.
Of all light commercial vehicles, such as vans, 0.6 percent were electric in 2021. In Germany, Luxembourg and Sweden, there were relatively more battery-electric light commercial vehicles two years ago. For heavier commercial vehicles, the share in the EU is even smaller: 0.1 percent. It is striking that in the Czech Republic 2.7 percent of all heavier commercial vehicles are fully electric, while Luxembourg is in second place with 0.2 percent.
In the case of buses, the electric share is higher again; 1.3 percent of all EU buses were fully electric in 2021. The Netherlands was by far the leader with 14.5 percent, with Sweden in second place with 4.9 percent. In Belgium, 0.6 percent of all buses were fully electric.