Even though China seems to be the HQ of EVs across the globe, Europe has a plan to meet up with this by 2030. The latest and interesting news is that self-charging hybrid cars outsold diesel cars by just 48 vehicles in the continent for the first time in 2021, according to data.

According to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, one in every 11 cars sold was battery-electric making the total just under 880,000 vehicles.

However, hybrid cars on the other hand operate on batteries charged by an internal combustion engine and can only drive a limited distance on electric power.

On the other hand are plug-in Hybrids which are powered primarily by a battery that can be charged externally and is often as being more environmentally friendly but it’s backed up by an internal combustion engine.

About 1,901,2839 million self-charging hybrid cars were registered in the EU throughout the year 2021 which was a big jump from 1.1 million registered vehicles a year prior.

Diesel registrations on the other hand have seen a decline since the Dieselgate scandal back in 2015.

There are now new government subsidies for low or zero-emission vehicles that took effect as part of pandemic recovery programs all of which contributed to the increased sales of plug-in hybrid and battery-EVs in 2020 to over one million with a roughly even split between the two types of vehicles.

Automakers see plug-in hybrids as a technology of transition to fully-electric vehicles even though their green credentials have been reportedly criticized by environmental groups as studies have shown drivers rely more than hoped on the internal combustion engine over the battery, pushing up the vehicles’ emissions.

A good example is a case in 2021 when battery-EV sales grew by 63.1% to nearly 878,500 cars. The data also showed that plug-in hybrid sales grew 70.7% to nearly 867,100.

Petrol remained the most common fuel type but by a lower margin than last year, constituting 40% of new registrations, down from 48% in 2020.