Europeans bought electric cars More diesel cars were sold in December, the first time that sales of electric cars outperformed diesel cars, the most popular in Europe historically.
The market share of electric cars was more than 20% of new cars sold in Europe and Britain in December, according to data compiled by Berlin auto market analyst Matthias Schmidt.
Diesel car sales, which accounted for more than half of new car sales in the European Union until 2015, fell to less than 19%, according to the New York Times and seen by Al Arabiya.net.
December’s figures revealed how quickly electric cars became prevalent, as sales of battery-powered cars rose in Europe, the United States and China last year while traditional cars stagnated.
This comes as government incentives have made electric cars more affordable, more models of electric cars are offered to choose from, and buyers are becoming more aware of the environmental cost of internal combustion engine vehicles.
Sales of new cars in the European Union fell by more than 20% in November, due to a shortage of semiconductors that hampered production, according to the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers.
For his part, Schmidt said that Tesla was the best-selling brand of electric cars in 2021, followed by Volkswagen.
He also believes Tesla will be in a good position to expand its leadership when it opens a factory near Berlin this year to serve the European market. The leading American company for electric cars is importing from China to feed the demand in the European market.
Diesel has been popular for a long time in Europe due to tax policies that made diesel fuel less expensive than gasoline. Diesel vehicles are generally more fuel efficient than petrol vehicles, but produce more harmful pollution.
Diesel’s decline began in 2015 after Volkswagen admitted it had sold millions of diesel cars equipped with software that produced artificially low emissions during official tests. The illegal program made vehicles look cleaner than they used to be.
The scandal drew attention to the pollution caused by diesel cars, which caused tens of thousands of premature deaths. Cities such as Hamburg and Berlin have banned diesel cars in some neighbourhoods, while the European Union has tightened its rules on vehicle pollution. Automakers also have to pay heavy fines if they do not reduce carbon dioxide emissions to the specified levels.
Currently, gasoline cars are still more popular, accounting for 40% of new car sales, but they are also in a long-term decline.