2018 (Q3) Europe: Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Car Sales per EU and EFTA Country

Q3/2018: Germany was the largest market for electrically chargeable cars in Europe but Norway still led in pure battery electric passenger vehicle registrations.

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January to September 2018: the registration of electrically chargeable passenger vehicles in the European Union (EU) and EFTA countries increased by 35% to almost 274,000 cars. The sales of battery electric cars grew and even faster 37% to almost 133,000 cars. Germany is increasingly the market leader for electrical chargeable vehicles while market penetration is the highest in Norway, which still leads the sale of battery electric vehicles despite the small total new car market in Norway.

European New Electric Car Market in 2018 (Q3)

The market for electrically chargeable vehicles in the European Union expanded by 30% to 71, 981 cars during the third quarter of 2018. If EFTA is added, the expansion was 23% to 90,242 cars – largely due to electric cars being already popular in Norway a year ago.

During the first three quarters of 2018, new passenger vehicle registrations in the EU and EFTA grew by 2.3% to 12,304711 cars. The new car market was divided in the following fuel types:

Fuel Type2018 (Q1-3)2017 (Q1-3)% Change% Market Share
Total Market12,304,71112,024,7532.3100
Petrol6,885,3105,923,88516.256
Diesel4,404,0485,307,474-1736
Hybrid459,825342,27734.33.7
Alternatively Powered:917,759697,90731.57.5
– ECV:273,702202,11435.52.2
– – BEV132,94496,77637.41.08
– – PHEV140,758105,33833.61.14
Source: ACEA

Note:

  • Terminology used in these ACEA statistics: Electrically chargeable vehicle (ECV) = battery electric vehicles (BEV) + extended-range electric vehicles (EREV) + fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) + plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).
  • Hybrid include PHEV
  • Alternatively Powered include ECV, hybrids, natural gas, LPG and ethanol.
  • Excludes some smaller markets where suitable data is not available.

Electric Car Sales per European Union and EFTA Country in 2018 (Q3)

New passenger vehicle registrations of electrically chargeable vehicles (ECV) in European Union and EFTA countries during Q3/2018 and the first nine months of 2018 were as follows according to the ACEA:

Q3/2018Q3/2017% ChangeQ1-Q3/2018Q1-Q3/2017% Change
AUSTRIA1,7891,904-6.06,1255,29015.8
BELGIUM2,8373,365-15.710,50810,707-1.9
BULGARIA5422145.513335280.0
CZECH REPUBLIC216102111.8699294137.8
DENMARK1,403366283.33,579616481.0
ESTONIA4311290.98940122.5
FINLAND1,26580157.94,4942,086115.4
FRANCE9,6008,11718.331,11326,58117.0
GERMANY16,26514,45812.550,24536,92336.1
GREECE634734.023112584.8
HUNGARY43827062.21,45773199.3
IRELAND897341163.01,859876112.2
ITALY2,8251,194136.67,2083,516105.0
LATVIA17988.97132121.9
LITHUANIA211540.08637132.4
NETHERLANDS6,5532,680144.517,3497,528130.5
POLAND286326-12.395870036.9
PORTUGAL 1,81595590.15,4872,617109.7
ROMANIA17174131.146897382.5
SLOVAKIA1939-51.322212972.1
SLOVENIA14411525.250430167.4
SPAIN2,4352,09916.07,4564,58762.5
SWEDEN7,3344,62058.719,94912,72656.8
UNITED KINGDOM15,49113,44415.244,88336,86321.8
EUROPEAN UNION71,98155,37430.0215,173153,43740.2
EU1570,57254,39129.7210,486151,04139.4
EU (New Members)1,40998343.34,6872,39695.6
NORWAY16,24915,8942.252,03843,09620.7
SWITZERLAND2,0122,098-4.16,4915,58116.3
EFTA18,26117,9921.558,52948,67720.2
EU + EFTA90,24273,36623.0273,702202,11435.4
EU15 + EFTA88,83372,38322.7269,015199,71834.7

Battery Electric Vehicle Sales in Europe in 2018 (Q1-3)

Registrations of battery electric vehicles (BEV) in various European Union and EFTA member countries during the period July to September 2018 and January to September 2018 were as follows according to ACEA statistics:

xQ3/2018Q3/2018% ChangeQ1-Q3/2018Q1-Q3/2017% Change
AUSTRIA1,3981,402-0.34,4864,0819.9
BELGIUM70856425.52,4132,04717.9
BULGARIA460–1100—
CZECH REPUBLIC15110248.046929459.5
DENMARK40930036.3933446109.2
ESTONIA384850.07223213.0
FINLAND18911958.854139138.4
FRANCE5,8525,23511.820,25618,7987.8
GERMANY7,3816,30617.024,67816,50549.5
GREECE13130.05628100.0
HUNGARY25815170.986743997.5
IRELAND645207211.61,174581102.1
ITALY1,325430208.13,5801,432150.0
LATVIA166166.75517223.5
LITHUANIA211540.08637132.4
NETHERLANDS5,8372,396143.615,3306,629131.3
POLAND132138-4.341126356.3
PORTUGAL 937366156.02,8051,095156.2
ROMANIA17174131.146897382.5
SLOVAKIA1939-51.322212972.1
SLOVENIA1027143.734820272.3
SPAIN1,1351,0884.33,3932,35444.1
SWEDEN1,7391,07262.23,9833,31520.2
UNITED KINGDOM3,8293,44311.211,29911,1591.3
EUROPEAN UNION32,35123,54137.498,03570,36239.3
EU1531,39722,94136.994,92768,86137.9
EU (New Members)95460059.03,1081,501107.1
NORWAY11,2618,46433.031,40623,26935.0
SWITZERLAND1,0751,121-4.13,5033,14511.4
EFTA12,3369,58528.734,90926,41432.2
EU + EFTA44,68733,12634.9132,94496,77637.4
EU15 + EFTA43,73332,52634.5129,83695,27536.3

Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Sales in Europe in 2018 (Q3)

Registrations of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) in various European Union and EFTA member countries during the third quarter of 2018 and the first nine months of 2018 were as follows according to ACEA statistics:

xQ3/2018Q3/2017% ChangeQ1-Q3/2018Q1-Q3/2017% Change
AUSTRIA391502-22.11,6391,20935.6
BELGIUM2,1292,801-24.08,0958,660-6.5
BULGARIA822-63.62335-34.3
CZECH REPUBLIC65––230––
DENMARK994661,406.12,6461701,456.5
ESTONIA57-28.617170.0
FINLAND1,07668257.83,9531,695133.2
FRANCE3,7482,88230.010,8577,78339.5
GERMANY8,8848,1529.025,56720,41825.2
GREECE503447.11759780.4
HUNGARY18011951.3590292102.1
IRELAND25213488.1685295132.2
ITALY1,50076496.33,6282,08474.1
LATVIA13-66.716156.7
LITHUANIA––––––
NETHERLANDS716284152.12,019899124.6
POLAND154188-18.154743725.2
PORTUGAL 87858949.12,6821,52276.2
ROMANIA––––––
SLOVAKIA––––––
SLOVENIA4244-4.51569957.6
SPAIN1,3001,01128.64,0632,23382.0
SWEDEN5,5953,54857.715,9669,41169.7
UNITED KINGDOM11,66210,00116.633,58425,70430.7
EUROPEAN UNION39,63031,83324.5117,13883,07541.0
EU1539,17531,45024.6115,55982,18040.6
EU (New Members)45538318.81,57989576.4
NORWAY4,9887,430-32.920,63219,8274.1
SWITZERLAND937977-4.12,9882,43622.7
EFTA5,9258,407-29.523,62022,2636.1
EU + EFTA45,55540,24013.2140,758105,33833.6
EU15 + EFTA45,10039,85713.2139,179104,44333.3

Electric Car Sales in Europe During 2018 (Q3)

During the third quarter of 2018, Germany finally moved ahead of Norway to become the largest market in the European Union and EFTA for electrical chargeable vehicles. During the three months July to September, 16 more electrically chargeable vehicles were registered in Germany than in Norway despite the total German new car market being around 25 times larger than the Norwegian market.

Year-to-date 2018, the Norwegian market was still in the lead followed by Germany, the UK, France, Sweden and the Netherlands.

Norway remained the clear leader in terms of battery electric vehicles with sales increasing by another third this year. Germany was the second largest European market for electric cars followed by France, the Netherlands and Britain. The growth of electric cars in the UK in 2018 has been a surprisingly low 1.3%.

However, Britain remained the leading market for plug-in hybrid cars with sales well ahead of Germany, Norway and Sweden.

Electric Car Sales in the European Union (EU) and EFTA Countries

Electric Car Sales per EU and EFTA Country:

About the author:

Henk Bekker

Henk Bekker is a freelance writer with over 20 years of experience in online writing. His best-selling cars website has been reporting car sales statistics since 2008 with classic car auction prices focusing on the most expensive automobiles sold at public auctions in the past decade. He also owns the travel websites European-Traveler.com and Lake Geneva Switzerland. Henk holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and an MSc in Finance from the University of London.