The fuel efficiency of vans sold in the EU continued to rise in 2016.

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), the average van registered last year emitted 163.8 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre (g CO2/km), 4.5g less than in 2015.

This average fuel efficiency improvement of 2.7% is the highest annual increase since 2013 and brings average emissions 6.4% below this year’s target of 175g CO2/km, which was achieved in 2013.

Further efficiency improvements are still needed to reach the EU’s target of 147g CO2/km by the end of the decade.

Average emissions were lowest in Portugal (140.5g CO2/km) and Bulgaria (141.5g CO2/km) and highest in Slovakia (185.6g CO2/km) and the Czech Republic (183.8g CO2/km).

In 2016, almost 1.6 million new vans were registered, an increase of 9% compared to the previous year.

A total of 10,177 electric and plug-in hybrid vans were sold in 2016, representing 0.6 % of the total EU van sales.

This is lower than the 1.1% share that electric and plug-in hybrid cars made up of total car sales, which topped 157,096.

Diesel vehicles made up the vast majority of the new van fleet, constituting 96% of registrations.

Alternatively fuelled vehicle sales shot up 31% in March this year.