Electrified cars market share grows in Europe as total sales fall

BERLIN (Reuters) -The share of battery-electric cars among new registrations in Europe grew to 9.9% in April to June from 7.5% a year prior, data showed on Wednesday, as fossil-fuel powered cars lost market share and total sales dropped.

In absolute terms, around a third more battery-electric cars were sold in the first six months of this year in Europe so far than in the same period last year, the data showed, totalling nearly 650,000 units.

By contrast, diesel sales were down by a third, and petrol by a fifth.

Still, petrol and diesel cars retained a majority of new registrations in the second quarter with a 55.8% share.

Two-fifths of new cars sold were electrified, with hybrid cars – which outsold diesel cars for the first time in 2021 – still the most popular with a 22.6% market share.

ACEA data released earlier this week showed Europe registered the fewest new passenger cars in the month of June since 1996 at just over 1.06 million vehicles, as problems from logistics bottlenecks to an ongoing chip shortage curbed production.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Richard Chang)