“Champion” in old cars – and, unfortunately, not in the sense of antiques, which are museum exhibits or participate in special exhibitions, but in the current fleet of vehicles, i.e. those who daily ply the roads of the country – this, unfortunately, Hellas. In fact, our country has one of the oldest vehicle fleets in the European Union for both cars, trucks and buses, which leads to air pollution and an increased risk of traffic accidents.

In particular, according to data published ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association) and concern until 2021, Greece has the oldest fleet of passenger cars in the European Union with an average age of 17 years, when the EU average is 12 years. Estonia has the second oldest car fleet (16.8 years), followed by the Czech Republic (15.6 years). At the opposite end is Luxembourg, where the average age of passenger cars is 7.6 years, followed by Denmark (8.5 years) and third by Austria (8.7 years).

Unfortunately, according to ACEA, the situation is similar in the category of buses and trucks. Greece, although a tourist country, has the second oldest bus fleet (19 years) when the average age of buses in the EU is 12.7 years. In the first place is Romania (20.2 years), in the third is Poland (16 years).

Although a very large proportion of freight transport in Greece is by road rather than rail as in other EU countries, Greece has the oldest fleet of medium and heavy commercial vehicles (trucks) with an average age of 22.7 years, followed by Italy (19 years) and Romania (18.6 years). In the EU, the average age of heavy vehicles is 14.2 years. The sad first place is also taken by Greece in the category of light trucks with an average age of 20.8 years, while in the EU it is 12 years. In second place after Greece is Portugal (15.3 years), and in third place is Estonia (14.7 years).

The vast majority of cars in Greece still run on petrol. Specifically, in 2021, 90.1% of passengers were on petrol, 8.6% on diesel, 0.6% on hybrid fuel and 0.1% on natural gas. 41.4% of light trucks were diesel and 38.8% petrol, 56.3% of medium and heavy trucks were diesel and 94.1% of buses were diesel. It is worth noting that Greece has the highest percentage of cars with an unknown type of fuel.

In Greece, there are 506 cars per 1,000 inhabitants (EU average 567 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants) and 112 commercial vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants (EU average 83 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants). Greece’s total vehicle fleet in 2021 was 6,606,062 vehicles, an increase of 1.8% compared to 2020.