STOCKHOLM, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The total number of electric cars in Europe has reached a million, after sales increased by more than 40 percent in the first half of the year, said a report published by EV-Volumes, a database of electric vehicle sales.
About 195,000 plug-in vehicles were sold in Europe during the first half of 2018, 42 percent higher than for the same period of 2017. These include all Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Plug-in Hybrids (PHEV), passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.
With this trend, the total number of European plug-in vehicles is expected to reach 1.35 million by the end of this year, according to the report.
Norway still leads the European country ranking as 36,500 plug-ins were sold in the first half of 2018. The report expects 84,000 plug-in sales in Norway by the end of the year, a share of 45 percent in the country's market of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. However, Germany might overtake Norway by the end of 2018 for total sales.
Europe hit the landmark of a million plug-ins about a year after China, but ahead of the United States, which is expected to reach the target later this year.
"A stock of one million electric vehicles is an important milestone on the road to electrification and meeting emission targets but it is of course not enough," said Viktor Irle, a market analyst of EV-Volumes.
