The EU's trade surplus for electric cars and hybrid electric cars reached nearly €3 billion last year, according to the EU's statistics watchdog Eurostat on Friday. The EU exported €4.7 billion worth of electric cars, and hybrid electric cars that can be driven in combination with a petrol or diesel engine in 2018, while imports of electric and hybrid electric cars were worth €1.6 billion, Eurostat said.
The main destinations for EU exports in 2018 were Norway with 39% of exports in terms of value, the U.S. with 23% and China with 10%. The majority of imports into the EU came primarily from South Korea at 48% in terms of value, Japan followed with 35% and the U.S. with 10%. Among the EU member states, the largest exporter of electric and hybrid electric cars to countries outside of the EU in 2018 was Germany with 64% of exports in terms of value, followed by Sweden with 13% and the U.K. with 10%.
"These three countries were also among the top four member states importing electric and hybrid electric cars from outside of the EU: Germany (26% of EU imports in terms of value), Belgium and Sweden (both 16%) and the U.K. (15%)," Eurostat also noted that overall, trade in electric and hybrid electric cars was dominated by hybrid petrol cars, which accounted for 67% of the value of EU imports and 60% of the value of EU exports. Electric cars alone accounted for 32% of imports and 39% of exports.
(Anadolu Agency)
