Almost 80% of the new cars bought in the Netherlands last month were either fully electric or hybrid, according to figures from the Bovag and Rai motoring organisations.

In total, 40% of the 31,000 cars bought in September were fully electric and 39% hybrid. The remaining vehicles were petrol-powered. Diesel is completely out of favour and just 255 diesel cars were bought in the Netherlands last month.

Company cars in particular are likely to be electric, Bovag said. Most new cars are bought by lease companies.

Over the first nine months of the year, almost 76% of new cars were fully or partially electric, compared with 67% in the same period last year.

Yet, despite the increase, only 6% of the Dutch car fleet of nine million cars are fully electric, according to government figures.

The new government is planning to make electric car drivers pay more road tax and is also phasing out the subsidies on electric cars.  This may have an impact on electric car sales in the future, as has happened in Germany, the Bovag spokesman told news website Nu.nl.

Tesla was the most popular brand with a 12.4% market share in September, followed by Volkswagen, Kia, Skoda and BMW.