The number of electric cars registered in Denmark now totals 97,121, eclipsing the 97,071 hybrid cars registered in the country, according to car maker interest organisation De Danske Bilimportører.

Electric cars are classed as using solely electric power, while plug-in hybrids can be powered by both electricity and petrol or diesel.

Car importers consider the trend to be a natural development resulting from the Danish Road tax system, which generally favours purely electric models. The registration tax (registreringsafgift) will increase more for hybrids than for electric cars in the coming years.

“There is a large increase in the number of rechargeable cars in Denmark’s car fleet, which is due to a more advantageous tax as well as a wider range of rechargeable car models,” CEO of De Danske Bilimportører, Mads Rørvig, told news wire Ritzau.

“We expect the number of electric cars in particular to increase in the lead up to 2035, when all new cars in the EU must be zero-emissions,” he said.

Just over 2.8 million cars are registered in Denmark. Of these, over 1.8 million were petrol-driven in August, while 780,000 have diesel engines, according to Statistics Denmark.

As such, the number of both electric and hybrid cars remains in the minority for now.

The Confederation of Danish Industry’s (DI) motor sector division Bilbranchen said it was impressed by the growing number of low emissions vehicles amid supply chain challenges.

“The motor industry is still affected by a shortage of components, especially microchips. And a lot of microchips must be used to make an electric car. It is remarkable, not least for this reason,” Bilbranchen director Thomas Møller told Ritzau in a written comment.

Taxes and EU criteria are also boosting electric cars, he noted.

Rørvig said the figures were evidence that Denmark needs more charging stations for electric vehicles.

The number of public charging points increased from 3,700 to 6,000 nationally over the last year, but that must be increased of the trend of electric car ownership is to continue, he said.