According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) latest ‘Vehicles on European Roads’ report, there were 252 million cars on European roads in 2022, a 1% increase from the previous year. But despite battery-electric sales reaching ‘all-time highs’ in 2022, only 1.2% of cars on EU roads are battery-electric.

Only six countries had a share of higher than 2% battery electric cars in 2022. But that might not be the best base to compare, as 2022 was not the industry’s best year, and EV sales in new car registrations only started soaring in 2023, driven by a rapidly electrifying company car fleet in most of these countries.

Cars are, on average, 12.3 years old

EU cars are now, on average, 12.3 years old, with Greece and Estonia having the oldest car fleets, with vehicles around 17 years old. “The data underlines the fact that it can take several years, even decades, for older vehicles to be replaced by newer ones equipped with cleaner and greener technologies,” says ACEA’s Director General, Ingrid De Vries.

In 2022, the whole car industry was struggling with the aftereffects of the coronavirus pandemic and the crisis in energy and supplies following it. In 2023, the EU car market concluded with a solid 13.9% expansion compared to 2022, reaching a full-year volume of 10.5 million units, an ACEA report from January 2024 shows.

“Battery-electric cars established themselves as the third most popular choice for buyers in 2023.”The market share surged in December 2023 to 18.5%, contributing to a 14.6% share for the entire year, surpassing diesel, which remained steady at 13.6%. Petrol cars retained their lead at 35.3%, while hybrid-electric cars claimed second spot, commanding a 25.8% market share.”

Poland has the most cars per 1,000

Looking back at the figures from 2022, Poland had the most passenger cars, with 703 per 1,000 people, while in Latvia, nearly 43% of all households do not own a car, resulting in 410 per 1,000 inhabitants. In Belgium, there were 5,877,949 cars on the road in 2022, a 0.4% increase compared to the year before. That’s 506 per 1,000 and has been stable since 2019; in 2018, this was still 508.

That means 82% of Belgian households had at least one car, and 18% did without a car. When looking at the power source of the Belgian car fleet, 53.1% ran on gasoline, 39.3% still on diesel, 1.5% was entirely battery electric, and 3.0% a plugin hybrid. Classic hybrids accounted for 2.1%, while natural gas and LPG each turned around 0.3%.

As around 2.1 million of the total fleet of 5.8 million cars was five years old or younger, it’s clear the company car fleet’s impact is still due to favorable tax incentives for companies. On the other hand, 2,068,592 cars older than ten years are still running on Belgian roads.

The average age was then nine years, nine months, and 11 days (according to Febiac), or 9.8 years in the ACEA statistics, compared to 12.3 years on average in the EU. Thirty years before, in 1993, this was still six years and four months in Belgium.

EV registrations doubled

However, when looking at new car registrations in Belgium, 2023 showed a different picture. From January to December 2023, 19.2% of new car registrations were for a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) compared to 10.3% in 2022.

That’s nearly double. Still, range anxiety pushed Belgians more to plugin-hybrids, 21% compared to 16% the year before, and private buyers often preferred classic hybrids (7.7%). Gasoline cars were still good for 42.3% (from 48.9%), and diesel shrunk from 16.4% to 8.8% in 2023.

Buses going electric?

If there is one segment where electrification is significant, it’s the (public) bus sector, although only in a select number of European countries. There are now over 720,000 buses on EU roads, 90.5% running on diesel, 1.9% being battery electric and 2% hybrid. However, significant shares of electric buses can be found in the Netherlands (15.9%), Luxembourg (12.7%), and Ireland (13.1%).

In Belgium, 16,383 buses drove around in 2022, along with 137,467 trucks and 868,994 vans. Of these buses, 11.8% were hybrid-electric, and only 0.9% fully electric. Looking at the vans, a meager 0.5% electric is enough to make you weep, 90.6% is still running on diesel, and on a total of 868,994 vans, 287,078 are older than ten years.

Not to mention the trucks, as of a total of 137,467 registered in 2022, almost half of them (57,179) were older than ten years, pulling the average truck age down to 12.2 years. And guess what: 97.7% are still running on diesel, and 0.0% are fully electric.