ROME – In the first quarter of 2022, sales of electric cars in the European Union increased by 53.4%, to a total of 224,145 units, doubling their share to 10% of the total, with many markets recording gains three-digit percentages and Romania which recorded the strongest growth (+ 408.0%). Of the four largest markets in the region, Spain recorded the sharpest increase (+ 110.3%), followed by France (+ 42.7%) and Germany (+ 29.3%). The delay in the launch of eco-incentives, on the other hand, penalized the Italian market and our country was thus the only country in Europe to record a decline in BEV sales (-14.9% over the same period of 2021 and 11,289 zero emissions sold against 13,272 a year ago). This is certified by Acea, the European manufacturers’ association that released the analysis of sales by type of power supply in the first quarter of 2022: in this period the market share of hybrid electric vehicles increased, representing 25.1% of total car sales in the European Union (from 20.9% in the first quarter of 2021).
The leap in pure electric has instead led them to overtake plug-in hybrids, which fell by 5.3% and now account for 8.9%. On the other hand, diesel and petrol vehicles continued to lose market share. However, registrations of traditional fossil fueled cars continue to represent the largest share of the market, with an overall share of 52.8%.
From January to March 2022, registrations of diesel cars across the EU continued their downward trajectory, recording a sharp decline (-33.2%), reaching 378,009 units. As a result, the market share of diesel cars shrank by 5.3 percentage points compared to the first quarter of last year.
All EU markets recorded significant losses, including the top four: France (-44.1%), Italy (-39.2%), Spain (-30.8%) and Germany (-20.2%) Similarly, the market share of gasoline cars contracted significantly over the same period, from 40.8% to 36.0%. Despite this decline, petrol cars remained the most popular in terms of volumes (808,039 units).
With 563,030 cars sold from January to March, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) – so-called mild and full hybrids – were the most common fuel type after petrol in terms of volume in the EU, up by 5. , 3%. Here too, with the exception of Italy (-6.3%), all the main markets contributed to the positive performance of the region.
Sales of natural gas vehicles continued their downward trend, recording another double-digit decline (-56.0%): On the other hand, LPG-fueled vehicles grew strongly (+ 48.6%), counting 67.717
units registered in the 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)