There are HEVs that have their battery charged by a petrol motor and PHEVs that plug in to charge the battery, although they too have a motor to supplement the electric propulsion. They are much more popular here because they can be driven a goodly distance without waiting for a long recharge as with fully electric (BEV) cars.
Below we see the number of HEVs and PHEVs combined. Hybrid sales are about 3:1 over BEVs. They both increased by about the same percentage so that ratio didn't change from 2020 to 2021. Toyota has until now pushed hybrids over electric due to this obvious numerical superiority.
It may surprise to see Norway below average but as they push full electric and have been hugely successful in that, an understandable result. So many countries that are lowly ranked are there because they have a high BEV uptake. Then there are others that have some catching up to do.
If I was buying a new car I would definitely have a hybrid at the top of my list, a PHEV particularly. Of course, if you run an economical petrol car as I do, then there is no urgency to do anything as maintaining such a car is the best thing to do for the environment anyway.
So the hybrid is clearly the preferred vehicle in Europe when it comes to some sort of electric car. Legislation will be deciding factor in causing more to go to BEVs but they still have usability compromises that many are not prepared to accept. I'm in that category.
Data source: ACEA.
HEV is a very wide category, that might include both mild hybrids and full hybrids.
ReplyDeleteWhat is common in them, is that they can not drive emission free for a relevant time.
Ultimately, PHEVs can be driven emission free and for the city traffic can work as a substitute for EVs.
Personally I find it more sensible to pair EV sales with BEV and keep the sales of non-rechargeable cars separately.
The reasons for the way I separated them was: 1) That ultimately all forms of hybrid propulsion will be banned in Europe. 2) Even if a PHEV can be driven emissions free, there will be times they are not (depending on numerous factors).
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