New car fuel types: battery electric 12.1%, hybrid 22.6% and petrol 36.4% market share for the whole of 2022 – ACEA

In 2022 registrations of new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) continue to rise despite the overall decline in the EU car market. As a result, BEV market share increased to 12.1%, an improvement of 3.0 percentage points compared to 2021. It was also a strong year for hybrid vehicles, which achieved a market share of 22.6%. Conversely, the traditional types of gasoline and diesel continue to lose ground. However, taken together, they still account for more than half of EU car sales in 2022.

Petrol and diesel cars

Gasoline car sales grew by 4.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022. All four key markets contributed to this improvement, especially Italy (+17.4%) and France (+3.5%). However, petrol’s market share fell to 32.5% from 35.5% in the same period in 2021.

In contrast, diesel saw a slight decline in the last three months of the year (-0.4%), while its market share fell to 14.4% from 16.4% in the fourth quarter of 2021. As a result, diesel cars for the full year, registrations fell 19.7% to 1.5 million units, with a market share of 16.4% – down 3.1 percentage points from 2021.

Alternative Propulsion Vehicles (APVs)

From October to December, EU registrations of new battery electric cars increased by 31.6% to 406,890 units as most markets in the region saw growth. Germany led the way with 198,293 units, an increase of 66.1%, followed by France, which increased by 12.6% to 62,155 units. After a weak third quarter, EU sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles saw strong growth (+29.5%) in the final quarter of 2022, supported by a 73.5% increase in Germany, which alone accounted for more than half of registrations in the region through this category. This helped move the full-year result into positive territory with growth of 1.2%.

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) totaled 545,316 units registered in the EU from October to December last year (an increase of 22.2% compared to the same period in 2021), making them the second best-selling fuel . This resulted in an overall increase of 8.6% for the full year and a market share of 22.6%.

The EU market for natural gas vehicles (NGV) witnessed a significant decline in the last three months of 2022 (-56.6%) as sales in Italy – the region’s largest market for this type of fuel – fell by 71.3%. LPG-powered cars, on the other hand, grew by 16.7% from October to December last year.

Alternative-powered vehicles (APVs) accounted for more than half (53.1%) of the EU car market in the last quarter of the year, with more than 1.3 million vehicles registered in total. On a quarterly basis, this is the first time APVs have outperformed traditional gasoline and diesel.

Alternative-powered vehicles (APVs) accounted for more than half (53.1%) of the EU car market in the last quarter of the year, with more than 1.3 million vehicles registered in total.