4 in 10 new cars on Belgium's roads are electric or hybrid

Four in 10 of all newly registered cars in Belgium in the first three months of 2023 were either hybrid or fully electric, according to the quarterly report of sector organisation Febiac.

Last year, electrified cars accounted for more than a third of new registrations, up from a quarter in 2021. Fully electric cars reached a 15 per cent market share for the first time this quarter.

Electric cars are mainly being bought by businesses and the self-employed, as a result of favourable tax conditions. Plug-in hybrids remain the most popular as company cars (24 per cent), followed by fully electric (21.4) and self-charging hybrids (4.7).

For private individuals, petrol cars remain the preferred choice (68.3 per cent), followed by self-charging hybrid (13.1) and diesel (7.6). The fully electric car has a retail market share of 5 per cent, with plug-in hybrid at 4.1 per cent.

In absolute terms, petrol cars were still the most popular in the first quarter, accounting for 62,379 from a total of 131,484 new cars registered.

The most popular model was the Volvo XC40, closely followed by the Toyota Yaris and Tesla Model Y. Chinese brands have a very limited presence in the Belgian market but saw their market share double to 1.31 per cent in the past year.

^{A rapid electric car charging station on the E313 in Diepenbeek © BELGA PHOTO JORIS VLIEGEN}