EV Sales in Europe Up More than 90-Fold Since 2010

The number of electrified vehicles sold in the European Union grew to more than 70,000 units last year from just 760 in 2010, according to a new report from the EU’s Joint Research Center. The totals include plug-in and range-extended hybrids, full-electric and fuel cell-electric models.

The authors say about 154,000 electrified vehicles were registered in the region during 2010-2014, with the number of such models jumping from three in 2010 to nearly 30 models last year.

The majority of these registrations (86,200) were full EVs, followed by about 51,000 gasoline-electric and 12,600 diesel-electric plug-in hybrids. Range-extended hybrids accounted for 4,000 registrations. Newly released fuel cell models added 100 units to the total. The remaining 1,900 registrations were unidentified limited- or pre-production models.

Most of the EVs were small cars, while the plug-in hybrids tended to be larger models, according to the report.

France, the Netherlands and the U.K. accounted for more than half of all electrified vehicles during the period, which the report attributes to healthy financial incentives in these countries. The Netherlands led the way with more than 40,000 registrations.

Nearly two-thirds of the electrified vehicles sold last year in EU countries also were produced in the region.