Hungary now has more than 100,000 vehicles with green licence plates
Monthly data
Turning green
In June 2024, a total of 2,881 vehicles were registered with green licence plates in Hungary, 7.6% more than in May and 80.1% more than in the same month of 2023.
This is how the green plate registrations have changed every month since January 2020 in the three main categories: Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV).
All electric
March saw the registration of 2,108 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in Hungary, an all time high. The 2,072 green licence plates registered in June is the second highest.
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs)
HEVs are the second most popular type among electric vehicles in Hungary, but with far fewer of them getting registered than of BEVs. February was the best month both this year and as far as we have data (January 2020), with 744 HEVs getting green licence plates, followed by a practically continuous erosion to 675 in June.
Plug-in electric vehicles (PHEVs)
Registrations in this category are erratic and the trend is slightly descending. A total of 111 PHEVs got green number plates in June, up from 91 in May. We've seen much higher figures in practically all but a couple of months since 2020.
State programme in full swing
To our enquiry, the Energy Ministry (which publishes green licence plate reports based on Interior Ministry figures) explained that the upturn in the registration of vehicles with green licence plates owes to the e-vehicle subsidy programme recently announced with a HUF 30 billion budget.
Domestic companies can receive a state contribution of up to HUF 4 million per vehicle for the purchase of a pure electric car or commercial vehicle.
The Energy Ministry reported on Thursday that some 3,300 companies have applied by end-June for a total of more than HUF 15 billion to purchase climate-friendly vehicles, roughly 75% of which were passenger cars. So far, more than 2,000 applications have been approved for a total of HUF 9 billion and payments have already started.
How many vehicles with green licence plates we have?
The answer to that question is: over 100,000. Or 101,840 to be exact. The end-June figure marks a 2.9% month-on-month growth and a year-on-year increase of 36.7%. The number of green plates grew 6-fold since January 2020.
The geographical distribution shows that while at the beginning almost the same share of green licence plates were registered in Budapest (48.9%) than in the rest of the country (51.1%), the ratio has become much healthier by now, with 61.1% registered in the countryside and 38.9% in the capital.
As for the specific categories, the number of environmentally friendly motorcycles grew from 66 in January 2020 to 583 by end-June. Of BEVs, including passenger cars, trucks, buses, and tractors, there were 59,209 registered in Hungary, a 43% annual growth and 7.7 times as many as in January 2020.
The number of HEVs totalled 29,646, up 35.5% yr/yr, while the number of PHEVs went up 14.1% to over 12,358. Although the figures shown in graph below represent a wider range of vehicles (as the note in the chart says), passenger cars comprised virtually 100% of HEVs and PHEVs and 93% of BEVs in June.
How popular are the different kind of EVs in Hungary?
Green licence plate registrations took off in the first half of 2022 compared to the H1 2021, then the growth petered out in January-June last year only to soar again in the first six months of this year. The same pattern applies to BEVs, while HEVs showed a more modest but steady growth, and the popularity of PHEVs actually subsided.
The changes in the share of the three types of EVs in total new registrations reflect the above numbers, of course, showing a temporary faltering but undeniable increase in the popularity of BEVs, a modestly eroding uptake of HEVs and a clearly dissipating love for HEVs.
Gov't to tighten green plate rules
From the autumn of 2024, significant changes are expected in the regulation of green licence plates in Hungary. According to a recent draft government decree, extended-range, externally chargeable hybrid electric vehicles and externally chargeable hybrid electric vehicles (plug-in hybrid vehicles) would no longer be able to receive green number plates when first registered in Hungary from 1 September 2024. In addition, previously issued green number plates for these vehicles will have to be replaced by 30 November 2026 at the latest, according to a new draft regulation.
Discrepancy explained
You may find that there is a great discrepancy between the electric vehicle statistics of the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) and of Hungary's Ministry of Energy, particularly if you try to compare figures for passenger cars.
The ACEA unites Europe’s 15 major car, truck, van and bus makers. Due to regular changes in the registration files by the official licensing authorities, ACEA registration data also changes regularly for the current and the previous year’s data. Altogether it's a 'shallower pool' of data than the Hungarian database.
The database of Hungary's Ministry of the Interior includes all vehicles registered with green number plates, including motorcycles, passenger cars, trucks, tractors, and other zero-emission vehicles.
The composition is only one of the factors behind the different statistics, though. The other one - and we will try to delve deeper into this later on - is that the ACEA publishes statistics only on newly registered vehicles that are NEW, while Hungarian authorities include also imported, i.e. second-hand electric vehicles in the statistics. Once we find out how many vehicles in the green number plate statistics are imported, we'll let you know. You can read more about this issue in one of our previous articles here.
Cover photo: Getty Images
