The EU all-electric passenger car market rose 22.9% year-on-year in January to 71,984 units, accounting for 9.5% of all new car registrations in the region during the period, Kallanish reports.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) said Tuesday that BEV performance would have been better if it wasn’t for the negative impact from German sales. The country, which is among the biggest BEV markets by volume in the region, saw a 13.2% contraction in these sales last month. Registrations in other relevant BEV markets such as Sweden and Italy dropped by 18.5% and 8.7% on-year.

Despite the slowdown in some countries, BEV penetration in the EU continued to grow from a share of 8.6% in January 2022. Sweden is currently the country with most all-electric cars in its fleet (28.8%), followed by Finland (26%) and Denmark (21.5%).

Norway still leads the European BEV uptake with a 66.5% share in January, but the largest markets for all-electric cars in the region are Germany (18,136 units), the UK (17,294 units) and France (14,629 units).

Sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in the EU fell 9.9% to 53,649 units and a market share of 7.1%. That’s mostly due to sales of this drivetrain more than halving in Germany in January. The country was, until last year, the largest PHEV market by volume in the region. France, on the other hand, was the biggest PHEV market in the month after registrations rose 29.8% to 10,301 units.

In terms of penetration, Sweden also has the largest plug-in hybrid share in the EU at 23.3% of its total fleet, followed by Luxembourg (22.1%) and Belgium (18.2%).

Last month’s outlook was brighter for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), those that can’t be charged via plug. The drivetrain registered a growth of 22.1% in the EU to 197,982 units and a market share of 26%. The strong start to the year was driven by double-digit gains in the region’s four biggest markets: Spain (59.3%), Italy (24.7%), Germany (19%) and France (12.5%)

ACEA said the EU passenger car market started the year on a “positive note” with overall registrations, including petrol and diesel cars, rising by 11.3%. “However, this was largely due to an unusually modest base of comparison in 2022, when the lowest January volume on record was reached,” the association adds.  

Spain has recorded the strongest overall growth in the month, including increases of 72.3% in BEV, 28.2% in PHEV and 59.3% in HEV registrations.