Spain sells almost as many “electrified” cars as Europe. But the statistics have a trick

The news of the registrations always give us a complete photograph to take the pulse of the automobile industry. The results of 2021 and the month of January 2022 provide a clear picture of how Spain is compared to Europe in the electrified market.

Although the penetration of electrified vehicles was very similar in 2021 in Europe and in Spain, their distribution was very different. In fact, the data shows that the kilometers to be traveled in electric mode in one case or another are much less if we look at our country, compared to those expected in Europe.

According to the data provided by ANFAC, the 33.32% of registered vehicles in our country in 2021 were hybrids (plug-in or not) and electric. In the same period of time, ACEA collects that the 37.6% of European registrations they also correspond to electrified vehicles. The difference between both markets was four points, but its distribution was very different.

Same proportion of electrified but much less electric

Although the complete photograph is similar, analyzed in detail the changes are substantial. While in Spain 25.53% of total registrations were of hybrid vehicles (not plug-in), in Europe they remained at 19.6%. The consequence is evident, in the continent many more plug-in hybrid and electric cars than in our country.

If we look at plug-in hybrids, the difference between the two markets is already notable. In 2021, 8.9% of plug-in hybrid vehicles were registered in Europe, for 5.03% of all sales that this technology brought together in our country. The gap if we talk about electric is much larger, with 2.76% in Spain, which is far from the 9.1% they represented in the total European market.

The trend also says that a change is not expected in the short term if we talk about electric. In January, 4.2% of the vehicles sold in our country were electric. The figure is almost traced to the collection in December 2021 (4.07%). Very far from the European figures. Plug-in hybrids, however, did grow big enough to set another pace. In January, 7.6% of vehicles powered by this technology were registered, while in December they were still at 5.60%.

In addition, it must be taken into account that in 31% of non-plug-in hybrid vehicles collected by ANFAC Also added to their January accounts are “mild-hybrid” or 48-volt vehicles, also known as mild hybrids, where the electric boost is almost testimonial despite having an ECO label from the DGT.

One more piece of data reflects that electric cars grow at a much slower rate in Spain than in most European countries. In 2021 this technology grew by 32.14% compared to 2020, while up to 10 countries doubled their pure electric registrations, with growth above 100% of sales. Only Slovenia and Slovakia experienced lower growth rates than Spain. The Netherlands and the Czech Republic, however, sold less electricity in 2021 than in 2020.