Dec 20 Reuters Sales of electric cars in the European Union were almost half of all new passenger car registrations in the EU between January and November 2023 and already crossed the halfway mark in the month of November alone, data showed on Wednesday.

Electrified vehicles either fully electric models, plugin hybrids or full hybrids accounted for over 47.6 of all new passenger car registrations in the EU as of November, up from 43 in the same period last year, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association ACEA said.

Newcar registrations in the EU increased 6.7 in November, the 16th consecutive month of growth, with a yearonyear rise of 13.3 in the registration of electric vehicles. Petrol car registrations grew by 4.2, while diesel dropped by 10.3, the data showed.

Registrations of fully electric cars rose 16.4 from a year earlier, to 144,378 vehicles, even as registrations in Germany, the biggest EV market in Europe, fell by 22.5 to 44,942 vehicles.

In the electrified market, consumers continued to prefer hybridelectric vehicles, with a yearonyear surge of 28.7, while demand for plugin hybrids declined by 22.1.

Registrations of hybridelectric cars in Germany, France and Italy were over 1.5 million vehicles yeartodate out of almost 2.5 million total vehicles in the EU.

Despite the rise of electric vehicles, the ACEA said earlier in December that in Europe the EV sector risks falling behind other regions39; EV sectors without a robust EU industrial strategy,…