Italy loves LPG and CNG, not EVs

Italy leads by far

It's beyond dispute that Italians like alternative-fuel-powered cars – in 2017 they were the ones to buy nearly one in every four (or 24,1%, to be precise) of those sold in the entire European Union and in local terms, sales of such vehicles soared by 24% compared to 2016. The remaining four countries in the top 5 of major alternative-fuel-powered car buyers in Europe in 2017 were:

• Great Britain – 12,6% of overall sales;
• Germany – 12,4%;
• France – 11,4%;
• Norway (the EV paradise) – 8,7%.

© gazeo.comWith commonplace availability and low prices of gaseous fuels, it's no wonder Italian motorists love them

Against the current

In sheer numbers, 230010 vehicles motivated by unconventional energy were sold in Italy, out of 953355 sold in general across the EU. However, while other countries bet on hybrids and EVs (notably Norway, where the Tesla Model S regularly tops the list of bestselling cars), Italy owes its outstanding result to LPG and CNG. And no wonder it is so – they have been using gaseous fuels for decades, have fully developed infrastructure for conversions and refueling and trust the technology as proven and safe.

Gaseous fuels rule!

Just to show you how popular LPG and CNG are in Italy: of 206667 vehicles running on these fuels in Europe in 2017, 161785 (that is 78,7%!) were sold in Italy alone and of all alternative-powered cars delivered in the sunny southern-European country, 70,3% were motivated by autogas or compressed methane. And what about EVs? 287270 of them were sold across Europe in 2017 (38,7% up over 2016 and 30,1% of all alternative vehicles sold in 2017), of which only 4827 were delivered in Italy, even though the result is almost twice as good as the 2016 one. That's 0,2% of Italy's entire new car market and 2,1% of the environmentally-friendly sector. As far as hybrids are concerned, their situation is better (63398 examples were sold out of 460418 in the EU overall), but they're still far behind LPG and CNG.

No encouragement required

And that's despite there are currently no subsidies for buyers of new vehicles running on anything else than petrol or diesel. However, there are incentives for those who decide to convert Euro 3 and Euro 4 vehicles to LPG or CNG and certain dealers offer discounts if you scrap your old ride. Additionally, there are tax breaks for owners of hybrids and EVs as well as LPG- and CNG-powered cars. It's safe to say Italy is Europe's capital in terms of LPG and CNG use, even though there are countries (like Poland) with larger numbers of cars fueled with autogas and methane.