European car buyers are supercharging the region’s EV adoption rate with continually higher numbers. Last month, 29% of all new cars sold in Europe were electric, bringing the average market share for the January through August period up to 23%, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).

The data is backed by registration numbers published by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), the region’s main automotive lobby group, which show that 29.2% of all new cars registered last month in the European Union, UK, and EFTA countries were EVs, up from last year’s 20.2% share. The same lobby group says EVs have a year-to-date market share of 23.2%.

The BMW Group had the biggest share of EV sales, according to the ICCT. That's mostly due to the huge success of the new iX3 crossover.

Meanwhile, traditional combustion passenger cars, powered by either gas or diesel engines, continue to go down in popularity. In August, gas cars accounted for just 18.5% of all registrations, while diesel cars captured just 5.8% of the European market, according to ACEA. Through the first eight months of the year, combustion cars (gas and diesel combined) had a 27.9% market share, per ACEA, while the ICCT says that number was 29%.

That’s clearly more than the 23% share captured by EVs, but the trend is clear. Last year, EVs had 17.7% of the market at the end of August, while gas and diesel accounted for 35.8% of the new car market.

It’s great news for everyone, but especially for people who live in dense urban areas, where studies have shown that replacing combustion cars with EVs leads to significant health benefits .

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