Overall, in 2021, 68.8% of all new buses registered in the European Union were diesel-powered.

Electrically-charged buses recorded strong growth, resulting in an increase in their market share from 6.1% in 2020 to 10.6% last year. Alternative fuels drove 10.5% of all new buses sold, while hybrid electric vehicles accounted for 10.1% of the market.

Together, all alternative propulsion vehicles accounted for 31.2% of the EU bus market in 2021.

Diesel and petrol buses

Last year, EU demand for diesel buses fell by 2.9% to 19,895 units, and diesel’s market share fell from 73.2% in 2020 to 68.8% in 2021.

Of the four main 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 declines.

In the EU as a whole, only one petrol bus was sold in 2021 (excluding data from Bulgaria, Lithuania and Malta, which are not available).

Alternative propulsion vehicles (APVs)

In 2021, registrations of new electrically-charged buses (ECVs) in the EU experienced strong growth (+78.7%), with 3,064 units and a market share of 10.6% (this data includes full battery electric vehicles, fuel cell electric vehicles, extended range vehicles and plug-in hybrids).

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 remained the largest EU 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 (HEVs) accounted for 10.1% of the EU bus market last year. Hybrid bus sales grew by 10.0% in 2021 to reach a total of 2,926 new buses.

Germany accounted for almost half of total hybrid sales, with 1,405 units registered for the full year.

10.5% of new medium and heavy-duty buses in the EU ran on alternative fuels (natural gas, LPG, biofuels and ethanol) in 2021, almost all of them fuelled by natural gas.

Registrations of new alternative fuel buses in the European Union fell by 2.3% to 3,033 units last year, as reported by Revista Viajeros.

France experienced a significant increase in sales of buses running on alternative fuels (+61.3%), while both Spain and Italy recorded negative growth (-42.6% and -15.2% respectively).