Pure Electric Fleet in Hungary Over 70,000-Strong

The end of last year saw a strong rally in the spread of green motoring, with the number of pure electric vehicles in Hungary rising to over 70,000 last year, according to a post on the Ministry of Energy's (EM) said on its social media page on Monday.

According to the ministry's statement, last December saw the third highest number of all-electric vehicles registered. Last month's figure of 1970 was only overtaken by March last year with 2,108 units in the perpetual ranking, and June and September 2024 were tied with 2,072. This dynamic growth has resulted in a fleet of more than 70,000 of the most environmentally friendly vehicles, they said.

Traffic registration data show that in 2024, more than ever before, almost 22,000 pure electric vehicles were given green license plates in Hungary. Most of these, more than 20,000, were passenger cars. The clean and silent fleet grew by less than 14,000 units in 2023, so the previous year marked another step forward in the uptake of electromobility, they added.

The series of record-breaking decisions are largely thanks to the government's program to support companies' e-car purchases, according to the statement, which said companies had already applied for more than HUF 21 billion in funding to buy more than 5,400 cars, vans and minibuses under the call for proposals, which has been running since February.

More than half of the HUF 30 billion budget for this purpose has now been contracted and nearly a sixth has been paid out 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 government is encouraging further progress with a total of nearly HUF 60 billion in two calls for proposals. The other program is aimed at tackling the white spots in the rural e-charging network to achieve nationwide coverage, with a budget of HUF 28 billion.

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