Hybrid cars increasingly popular with EU motorists, confirming need for sustainable liquid fuels

Petrol and hybrid cars continue to dominate new automobile sales in the EU, according to the latest figures from the European auto industry. Sales of hybrid cars surged more than 25% in February, compared to more modest growth of 9% for battery electric vehicles.

The trends once again highlight the importance of sustainable biofuels such as renewable ethanol as the most immediate way to de-fossilise the cars Europeans will be driving for a long time to come.

According to the figures from ACEA, the European automobile industry association, petrol-engine cars remain the top category of new auto sales, representing 35.5% of the vehicles registered in February 2024. Hybrid cars are the second-largest category, at 28.9%. Combined with plug-in hybrid cars (7.3% of the total), cars that run on liquid fuel represent 71.7% of the new vehicle registrations. Battery electric vehicles made up 12% of the total new car registrations.

Even with a de facto ban on the sale of most new vehicles with internal combustion engines from 2035, the cars being bought today will be on Europe’s roads for a long time. And, as ACEA has recently noted, many European countries still do not have the charging infrastructure in place to handle a massive increase in battery-electric vehicles.

Europe needs more than just one technology to decarbonise road transport and rolling out sustainable renewable fuels such as renewable ethanol is the most immediate, cost-effective, and socially inclusive solution at hand.

European renewable ethanol saves on average 78% GHG emissions compared to fossil fuel, and recent studies have shown that hybrid vehicles running on high-ethanol blends have lower GHG emissions than battery electric vehicles on a full-life-cycle basis.

Opening up to the contribution of renewable fuels as early as possible will not only help broaden the range of solution for all EU citizens and preserve affordability of mobility, but also lead to faster emission reduction.