One million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles were sold in in the European Union last year, accounting for more than 10 per cent of overall sales, according to official data.

Data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) showed sales of fully electric and plug-in hybrids rose to 1.046 million vehicles in 2020, from 387,808 in 2019.

Sales of self-charging hybrid cars rose 59 per cent, to 1.182 million last year, while petrol and diesel vehicle sales fell 37 per cent and 32 per cent respectively.

However, petrol cars remained the biggest seller, accounting for 48 per cent of all EU sales.

Sales of fully electric vehicles more than doubled, to 538,772 from 247,854 a year earlier.

But, overall EU car sales plunged nearly 24 per cent to 9.9 million, due to Covid-19 lockdowns.

The Policy Exchange think-tank says that the UK will need 400,000 public EV chargers by 2030, up from 35,000 it currently has, in order to meet the needs of drivers following the planned ban on new petrol and diesel cars.

This means the annual rate at which charge-points are being installed must increase from about 7,000 (the rate over the past three years) to 35,000 over the next decade.

In the UK, battery electric models took 17 per cent of the new car market in 2020, up from three per cent in 2019.

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