Acea: 68.8% of new buses are diesel-powered in 2021

According to Acea, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, overall in 2021, 68.8% of all new buses registered in the European Union ran on diesel. Electrically-chargeable buses posted strong growth, resulting in their market share increasing from 6.1% in 2020 to 10.6% last year. Alternative fuels powered 10.5% of all new buses sold, while hybrid electric vehicles accounted for 10.1% of the market. Together, all alternatively- powered vehicles made up 31.2% of the EU bus market in 2021. 

Diesel and petrol buses according to Acea

Last year, EU demand for diesel buses fell by 2.9% to 19,895 units, with diesel’s share of the market shrinking from 73.2% in 2020 to 68.8% in 2021. Out of the four major EU markets, only Italy saw an increase (+7.9%) in diesel sales. Spain recorded a double-digit drop (-19.8%), followed by Germany (-8.5%) and France (-2.4%) with more modest decreases. Across the entire European Union, only one petrol-fuelled bus was sold in 2021. 

Alternatively-powered vehicles (APV) 

In 2021, registrations of new electrically-chargeable (ECV) buses in the EU saw strong growth (+78.7%), counting 3,064 units and holding a market share of 10.6%. France was the leading market for electric buses with 622 units sold (+247.5%), followed by Germany (613 units; +57.6%) and Denmark (224 units; +3,633%). While the Netherlands still was the EU’s biggest electric bus market in 2020, Dutch sales fell by 57.6% last year. France and Germany together accounted for 40.3% of all electric buses sold in the EU in 2021. 

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) made up 10.1% of the EU bus market last year. Sales of hybrid buses grew by 10.0% in 2021 to reach a total of 2,926 new buses. Germany accounted for nearly half of total hybrid sales with 1,405 units registered throughout the year. 

10.5% of new medium and heavy buses in the EU ran on alternative fuels in 2021, nearly all of them powered by natural gas. Registrations of new alternative-fuel buses in the European Union declined by 2.3% to 3,033 units last year. France saw a significant increase in sales of buses running on alternative fuels (+61.3%), while both Spain and Italy posted negative growth (-42.6% and -15.2% respectively).