Brussels, Belgium: Diesel remains the fuel of choice for European truck operators accounting for almost 98% of trucks registered last year, according to data from the ACEA.
Fuel types of new trucks are: diesel 97.9%, electric 0.2%, hybrid 0.1% new medium and heavy trucks over 3.5 tonnes registered in the European Union in 2019. The figures include data for the UK.
There were 227 trucks fueled by petrol in 2019, almost 90% of which were sold in Finland and Germany.
Last year, the number of diesel trucks registered in the European Union1 grew by 3.5% compared to 2018, reaching 361,135 units. With the exception of Italy where demand fell 9.5%, demand for diesel vehicles increased in all major EU markets: the United Kingdom up 10.2%, Germany up 3%, France up 0.8% and Spain up 0.3%.
Overall in 2019, demand for new electric trucks grew, up 109.2% but from a very low base. Registrations went from 357 trucks in 2018 to 747 in 2019, resulting in a market share of 0.2%.
The main markets for these vehicles were Germany with 608 units, the Netherlands at 76 and France with 24, which together accounted for 95% of all electric truck registrations last year.
Hybrid electric vehicles held a smaller share of new truck sales in 2019 than the year before. 272 hybrid trucks were registered last year, down 10.8% compared to 2018.
Alternative fuels accounted for the vast majority of alternatively-powered trucks sold in the EU last year. Registrations increased by 71.0% to 6,371 units, 98% of which were vehicles running on natural gas. France, Italy and Germany are the largest EU markets for alternative-fuel trucks. In 2019, German sales increased by 372.8%, followed by Italy up 44.5% and France up 30.2%.
Adoption of alternative fuels is more advanced in the bus sector where 15% of buses registered in 2019 in the EU used alternative power sources to diesel. Diesel fueled bus sales fell in four of the five major EU markets: Spain, UK, Italy, and Germany. Only France increased sales.
