BERLIN (Reuters) – Self-charging hybrid cars, which operate on both an internal combustion engine and a battery, outsold diesel cars in Europe for the first time in 2021, albeit by just 48 vehicles, data showed on Wednesday.
One in 11 cars sold were battery-electric, the data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association showed, totalling just under 880,000 vehicles.
Self-charging hybrid cars contain a battery charged by an internal combustion engine, and generally can only drive a limited distance on electric power.
Plug-in hybrids are powered primarily by a battery charged externally and thus seen as more environmentally friendly, but are backed up by an internal combustion engine, while battery-electric cars run on the battery alone.
A total of 1,901,239 million self-charging hybrid cars were registered in the European Union throughout the year, a significant jump from the 1.1 million registered in 2020.
Diesel registrations, which have cratered since the Dieselgate scandal in 2015, fell by a third from last year’s 2.77 million to 1,901,191.
New government subsidies for low- or zero-emission vehicles that took effect as part of pandemic recovery programmes trebled sales of plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicle sales in 2020 to over one million, with a roughly even split between the two types.
The plug-in hybrids are seen by carmakers as a technology of transition to fully-electric cars, but their green credentials have been criticised by environmental groups https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/once-green-plug-in-hybrid-cars-suddenly-look-like-dinosaurs-europe-2021-04-12as studies have shown drivers rely more than hoped on the internal combustion engine over the battery, pushing up the vehicles’ emissions.
In 2021, battery-electric vehicle sales grew by 63.1% to nearly 878,500 cars, the data showed, while plug-in hybrid sales grew 70.7% to nearly 867,100.
Petrol remained the most common fuel type but by a lower margin than last year, constituting 40% of new registrations, down from 48% in 2020.
(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Editing by Sarah Marsh and Mark Heinrich)
