Electric vehicles as a proportion of the total fleet

The number of electric cars in Europe is increasing due to factors such as financial incentives, increased public acceptability and market availability. The cars in question may be 'pure' battery EVs (BEVs), plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) or EVs with range extender engines.

Sales of BEVs increased by more than 50 % in 2014, compared with 2013, continuing an upward trend since 2008. Sales were greatest in France where more than 10 000 BEVs were sold), followed by Germany with 8 500 sales. A large number of EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) offer financial incentives, such as tax reductions and exemptions, for electrically chargeable vehicles. Other measures include, for example, allowing EVs to use bus lanes. Nevertheless, EVs continue to constitute only a very small fraction of new registrations in the EU‑28 (0.3 %) compared with, for instance, liquefied petroleum gas (1.1 %). Hybrid vehicles are usually not distinguished from conventional petrol and diesel vehicles in official statistics, so their numbers can only be estimated. While in 2001 only two hybrid vehicle models were offered in the EU, and only about 2 000 were sold, more than 30 hybrid models available, and more than 130 000 are sold. However, hybrid vehicles still only make up some 0.5 % of new vehicle sales in the EU.

Among non-EU EEA countries, Norway is the leading market for EVs in terms of market share. Almost 14 % of new cars sold in Norway during the first half of 2014, were electric (including PHEVs and BEVs).

LPG cars dominate the alternative fuel passenger car fleet. The number of LPG passenger cars almost doubled between 2005 and 2014, reaching 10 million vehicles in 2014. Poland and Italy are the leading countries with 2.6 million and 2.4 million cars respectively. LPG cars account for about 4.2 % of the overall passenger car fleet in the EEA-33. This percentage has remained rather constant over the last five years. Registrations of new LPG passenger cars reached a peak in 2009, when a figure of 3.6 % of the total number of new registrations boosted the total percentage of new registrations of alternative fueled cars to 3.75% of the total number of new registrations. A major drop in new LPG car registrations was observed in 2011, when registrations dropped to 0.7 % of total new passenger car registrations due to changes in economic incentive schemes.

The number of natural gas (NG) passenger cars almost tripled between 2005 and 2014. At 1.2 %, they represent a small percentage of the total passenger car fleet. The number of NG passenger cars is only significant in Italy (about one million).

LPG has approximately 80 % of the energy content of petrol per litre, while for compressed or liquid natural gas, the volumetric energy content of NG ranges from 5 to 1.8 times less than petrol. Despite this reduced energy content, both alternatives are considered to be promising fuels for the future, mainly due to their widespread availability, alternative energy pathway to oil that they offer and the low CO₂ yield per unit of energy delivered.

At about 1.6 % of the total fleet of Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) and 1.8 % of buses, the percentage of alternative fuel LCVs and buses is lower than that of passenger cars.

NG buses have shown an increasing trend over the years, although in 2014, they accounted for less than 1 % of the total bus fleet. The numbers of LPG and electric (mainly trolley) buses are much lower and have remained rather constant over the last 4-5 years. France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Turkey are the only countries with significant numbers (above 600) of NG buses.

Numbers of LPG LCVs are increasing, but they still only account for some 1 % of the total LCV fleet, whereas at about 0.5%, the number of NG LCVs is much smaller. Poland is the only country with a significant number of LPG LCVs (about 200 000), while Italy has the highest number of NG LCVs (about 91 000). The registration of new alternative fuel LCVs remains low, with figures slightly above 1.2 % between 2012 and 2014.