ACEA: Europe’s battery-electric car registrations continue to rise in November

In the same period of the previous year—January to November 2024—just over 1.3 million battery-electric cars were registered in the EU, accounting for a 13.4 percent market share. The European industry association ACEA reiterates its familiar statement from previous months, noting that the 16.9 percent market share for battery-electric cars ‘thus aligns with the forecasts for the full year.’ “Nevertheless, significant growth potential remains to keep pace with the transition,” ACEA adds.

In the first eleven months of the year, a total of 9.86 million new cars were registered in the EU, representing a 1.4 percent increase. However, battery-electric cars saw a 27.6 percent rise during the same period, outpaced only by plug-in hybrids, which recorded a 33.1 percent increase. In absolute numbers, PHEVs still lag behind pure electric vehicles, with fewer than 913,000 registrations.

When focusing solely on November rather than the year-to-date figures, a different picture emerges. Battery-electric cars were the strongest growth driver in the EU, with a 44.1 percent increase. Of the 887,491 new registrations across all drive types, the BEV share stood at 21.3 percent. Plug-in hybrids, meanwhile, grew by 38.4 percent in November but remained behind battery-electric cars in absolute numbers, with 91,699 registrations.

Growth in electrified powertrains

The trend is clear at first glance: if growth is still occurring, it is in electrified powertrains. Hybrid-electric cars (including full and mild hybrids under ACEA’s definition) were the most popular drive type in November, with nearly 302,000 new registrations. However, their growth was only 4.2 percent compared to November 2023. Pure petrol (206,448 units) and diesel vehicles (70,120 units) saw declines of over 20 percent compared to the previous year.

These figures should be interpreted with caution in ACEA’s statistics, as the European industry association no longer classifies mild hybrids—which often cannot drive even a metre on electric power alone and rely entirely on their internal combustion engines—as part of the combustion engine categories. Many new registrations previously classified as combustion vehicles have shifted to these minimally electrified hybrids. However, the growth dynamics in November suggest that drivers of combustion vehicles are increasingly switching to plug-in hybrids or fully electric cars. If this trend continues, battery-electric cars will soon overtake pure petrol vehicles—not just in individual showcase markets but across the EU.

The four largest markets in the EU, which together account for 62 percent of battery-electric vehicle registrations, recorded growth: Germany (+41.3%), Belgium (+10.2%), the Netherlands (+8.8%), and France (+9.1%). The growth in plug-in hybrids was driven by volume increases in key markets such as Spain (+113%), Italy (+80.6%), and Germany (+62.7%). Conversely, it is hardly surprising that these countries also saw the largest declines in combustion vehicle registrations: France experienced the sharpest drop in petrol vehicle registrations, with a 32.1 percent decrease, followed by Germany (-22.4%), Italy (-17.4%), and Spain (-14.6%).

In the manufacturer statistics, ACEA strictly distinguishes between individual brands but no longer differentiates by drive type. As a result, the data only allows for conclusions about Tesla, as other brands still offer multiple drive types. Tesla sold 12,130 battery-electric cars in the EU in November, a 34.2 percent decrease compared to November 2023. Nevertheless, this was still one of Tesla’s better months this year: for the year to date, the decline stands at 38.8 percent, with Tesla selling 129,024 cars in the EU by the end of November, representing a 1.3 percent market share. In the same period last year, nearly 211,000 sales accounted for a 2.2 percent market share.

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