Poland’s 15 percent of alternative fuel cars is far ahead of the nearest country Lithuania which has only nine percent. Marcin Obara/PAP

Poland has the highest percentage of alternative fuel cars in the EU, according to new data from Eurostat.

Defined as cars that run on electricity, natural gas, biofuels and others which are not petrol or diesel, Poland’s 15 percent of alternative fuel cars is far ahead of the nearest country, Lithuania with only nine percent.

Most of the alternative fuel cars in Poland are liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at 14.37 percent of the total number of registered cars.Bogdan Borowiak/PAP

Another six EU countries - Malta, Luxembourg, Estonia, Finland, Cyprus and Denmark - have less than 1 percent of alternative fuel cars.

Over half of the cars in the EU run on petrol, with Cyprus having the highest percentage with 84 percent, ahead of Finland with 74 percent and Denmark with 69 percent.

The data from Eurostat shows Poland is way ahead of other EU cars when it comes to the number of alternative fuel cars.Eurostat

Poland also has the second most LPG vehicles in the world behind Turkey, who have an estimated 8.5 million LPG powered cars compared to Poland’s 2.5 million LPG powered cars.

Countries which had more than 60 percent diesel driven cars included France with 68 percent, Lithuania with 67 percent and Luxembourg with 62 percent.

Fine particulates, which are responsible for thousands of early deaths and instances of illness, are emitted 120 times more by diesel vehicles than by LPG vehicles.Jacek Bednarczyk/PAP

Most of the alternative fuel cars in Poland are liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at 14.37 percent of the total number of registered cars.

LPG is considerably better for the environment than petrol or diesel cars with the European Fuel Quality Directive, which places LPG as part of the solution to decarbonising the transport sector in Europe, stating that from well to wheel diesel has 29.2 percent higher CO2 emissions than LPG and petrol has 26.8 percent higher emissions.

Poland also has the second most LPG vehicles in the world behind Turkey, who have an estimated 8.5 million LPG powered cars compared to Poland’s 2.5 million LPG powered cars. Marcin Obara/PAP

Fine particulates, which are responsible for thousands of early deaths and instances of illness, are emitted 120 times more by diesel vehicles than by LPG vehicles and diesel vehicles emit 20 times more nitrogen oxide (NOx) than their LPG counterparts.