The 2025 edition of Key figures on European transport, published in January, brings together all the key data on the transport of people and goods while also showing the broader context. It covers infrastructure, economic impact, energy use and environmental effects. Today, we focus on the registrations of new passenger cars. 

A time series for the years 2014 – 2024 for 20 EU countries with available data shows how the types of motor energy of new passenger cars have changed. In these countries, which accounted for 93% of new passenger cars within the EU in 2024, the number of diesel-powered vehicles (including hybrids) decreased by 67% and the number of petrol-powered vehicles (including hybrids) increased by 60%. 

For alternative types of motor energy, there were 45 times as many registrations of new battery-only electric vehicles in 2024 as in 2014, corresponding to 13.9% and 0.3% of all new car registrations, respectively. Registrations of new vehicles using other alternative fuels (liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), natural gas, hydrogen and fuel cells, bioethanol, biodiesel, bi-fuel, other) in 2024 were 13% higher than in 2014.

Registrations of new passenger cars in the EU, 2014-2024 (%, by type of motor energy). Stacked bar chart by petrol, diesel, batery-only electric and other alternative fuels. Link to full dataset below.

Source datasets: road_eqr_zev and road_eqr_carpda

The Key figures on European transport offers essential data on the EU and allows you to compare developments across EU and EFTA countries. For a more detailed view of the EU’s performance in other fields, explore other Key figures publications.