Battery-Electric Registrations Across EU, EFTA and UK Rise 59.9%

Battery-electric vehicle registrations across the European Union, EFTA countries and the United Kingdom rose 59.9% in September, outpacing overall new-car growth as fuel prices in the EU reached record levels.

The region recorded 416,433 battery-electric registrations. Total new-car registrations grew 10.2% to 1.36 million, so the battery-electric increase was substantially faster than the market’s overall expansion. The figures show the two trends occurring at the same time but do not establish how much fuel costs affected buyers’ decisions.

EU pump-price readings were limited to the bloc, rather than the wider registration region. On Sept. 14, the EU weighted average was €2.063 per liter for gasoline and €2.159 for diesel, the highest levels in a price series dating to 2005. In September, EU prices for personal-transport fuels and lubricants stood 31.4% above their year-earlier level.

Other powertrain registrations moved in different directions across the EU, EFTA countries and the U.K. Plug-in hybrids rose 24% to 164,470, while gasoline registrations fell 20.6% to 239,259 and diesel registrations declined 28.2% to 56,166.

For the EU alone, battery-electric vehicles represented 22.7% of new-car registrations from January through September, compared with 16.1% in the same period a year earlier. Hybrids remained the largest powertrain category, accounting for 36.3%. The broader EU registration picture also showed total passenger-car registrations rising in September.

Buyer-support measures and a wider selection of models are also contributing to demand for electrified cars. The available figures do not quantify the share of September’s battery-electric growth attributable to higher fuel prices.