Number of green vehicles up five fold in the last few years

The number of green vehicles registered with green number plates rose to over 88,000 in January from 17,000 in 2020, or a five-fold increase, the energy ministry said on Thursday.

The increase in the fully electric car segment was even higher, 6.5-fold increase during the period, the ministry said on Facebook, adding that the number of these types is expected to exceed 50,000 at the end of this month.

Around 3,000 pure electric green trucks, 500 motorcycles and over 200 run on Hungary’s roads.

Fifty-six percent of vehicles with green plates are fully electric and 60 percent of them were put on the roads in the countryside, the ministry said.

The government’s goal is to promote green energy in the Hungarian transport sector which currently produces one-fifth of all of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. It has earmarked 30 billion forints (EUR 77m) to subsidise the purchase of eco-friendly vehicles by businesses, it said.

The call for proposals, which opened on Monday, had received 1300 applications worth HUF 6.3 (EUR 16m) billion by this morning.

The most popular category of vehicles is passenger cars, with more than 1,200 vehicles, but more than 400 vans would also be purchased with non-repayable grants by the companies that have already applied.