Economy 8 January 2025, 4:18pm

Battery electric vehicle registrations jump 76% in Hungary in December

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The number of green licence plates issued in Hungary rose 3.2% month on month and 11.6% year on year in December 2024, according to the latest data by the Ministry of the Interior. The number of pure-electric passenger cars newly registered with green licence plates showed a 1.2% month-on-month decline, but a nearly 70% year-on-year increase. With green licence plate registration rules tightened on 1 September, the share of hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in all new registrations remains practically zero, but there were still more than 115,300 vehicles with green licence plates in circulation at the end of 2024, 6.6 times more than in January 2020.

Monthly data

Green momentum picks up some

In December 2024, a total of 2,003 vehicles were registered with green licence plates in Hungary, 3.2% more than in November and 11.6% more than in the same month of 2023. There were five m/m drops this year in April (-13%), July (-10.8%), September (-26.1%), October (-6.1%), and November (-2.3%).

Green licence plate registrations have dropped twice in annual terms, in oct (-11%) and Nov (-10.8%) since July 2023.

The following graph shows the monthly tally of green plate registrations since January 2020 in the three main categories: Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV).

The dramatic fall in the HEV and PHEV categories was triggered by regulatory changes (which are described in the box below). While we continue to receive monthly data on new passenger car registrations, including electric vehicle uptake for all engine types from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), but the HEV and PHEV numbers in the future green licence plate reports of the Ministry of the Interior will continue show practically zero.

Extended-range, externally chargeable hybrid electric vehicles (5N) and externally chargeable hybrid electric vehicles (plug-in hybrid vehicles, 5P) have no longer been able to receive green number plates when first registered in Hungary since 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, beyond which date they must have regular licence plates.

Environmentally friendly vehicles (5E, 5N, 5P, 5Z) uniformly benefit from the following discounts: (i) exemption from vehicle tax, (ii) exemption from company car tax, (iii) exemption from transfer tax and (iv) zero registration tax.

With those in the 5N and 5P categories no longer deemed environmentally friendly from 1 September, they should be subjected to the vehicle tax, although the regulation does not define precisely what environmentally friendly means. If they were to further specify the definition in the vehicle tax law, vehicles classified as 5N and 5P will most likely be subjected to the company car tax too. These vehicles are also most likely to be subjected to the transfer tax and the registration tax (estimated to be HUF 76,000).

All electric

March 2024 saw the registration of 2,108 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in Hungary, an all time high. June recorded the second-highest number (2,072), with the same figure reached in September. After two consecutive months of decline,

1,970 BEVs got green licence plate in December, up 2.8% m/m and 76% year on year.

The new registration of passenger cars in the BEV category, however showed a 1.2% month-on-month decline, the third month in a row with a m/m decrease. The yr/yr figure, however, shows an impressive 68.5% jump here.

As for trucks, a total of 217 of them got green licence plates last month, almost 53% more than in November (142) and nearly three times as many (+182%) as in Dec 2023 (77).

A total of 1,676 all electric passenger cars were registered with green licence plate on a monthly average in 2024, and with HEVs and PHEVs ditched,

this number should exceed 2,250, a 35% jump, only to maintain the growth rate.

Last month, the Ministry of Energy said that it expects the number of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) to reach 120,000 by 2026, which would mark a 75% growth from the end-2024 figure (70,386).

This target seems realistic only if they mean the end of 2026, considering that an average of 2,000 new electric cars are newly registered every month. This figure has been exceeded already three times this year and market trends suggest that this trend will only continue to gain momentum. Having 120,000 BEVs registered by January 2026 would require monthly registrations of some 4,000 BEVs, which seems out of reach.

The ministry said in a Facebook post on Monday that the series of records reached last year is largely due to the government's e-car scheme, which has been running since February and has already disbursed more than HUF 21 billion in funding for the purchase of more than 5,400 cars, vans and minibuses.

More than half of the HUF 30 billion envelop has now been committed in contracts and nearly a sixth has been paid to the winners. Companies have until the end of March to apply for a state contribution of HUF 2.8-4 million per vehicle.

The number of pure electric vehicles in Hungary has increased more than ninefold since the beginning of 2020. The spread of green car use has also helped transport greenhouse gas emissions to fall by 7% in 2023, in contrast to the previous steady increase.

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 61.4% registered in the countryside and 38.6% in the capital.

As for the specific categories, the number of environmentally friendly motorcycles grew from 66 in January 2020 to 697 by end-2024. Of BEVs, including passenger cars, trucks, buses, and tractors, there were 70,386 registered in Hungary, a 45% annual growth and 9.1 times as many as in January 2020.

The number of HEVs totalled 31.540, up 23.7% yr/yr, while the number of PHEVs shows an 8.1% growth to 12,642. 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 November.

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-July last year only to soar again in the first nine 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.

Unless one of the ministries or the Central Statistical Office (KSH) decide to publish detailed statistics, i.e. a breakdown of EVs, we will be able to learn about the HEV and PHEV registrations only from the monthly ACEA reports, but those DO NOT include imported (second-hand) vehicles, while the Hungarian green licence plate stats do.

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 modest but persistent erosion in the uptake of HEVs and a clearly dissipating love for PHEVs.