Total alternative fuel vehicle registrations in the EU increased 17.4% to 143,595 in the second quarter, a report by European Automobile Manufacturers Association showed. Of these, electric vehicle registrations significantly grew, by 53% year on year to 27,575 units. Demand for new hybrid vehicles also increased, by 22.6%, totalling 53,443 units. Meanwhile, 62,577 new passenger cars in the second quarter were powered by propane and natural gas, which is an increase by 3%, the report said.
Romania, Bulgaria and Greece are the only markets covered by Balkan Green Energy News that data was published for. There were twenty new electric vehicles registered in the first half of this year in Bulgaria, compared to two in the same period of 2014. However, there were no new hybrid electric cars.
Romania added 160 hybrids in the first two quarters, compared to 133 from the year before. There were also 11 electric vehicles registered. Greece had the number of new electric cars drop by two to 19, but there were 373 hybrids added, over two times more than in the first half of last year.