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Last year, traditional internal-combustion vehicles accounted for 84 percent of total passenger vehicle sales in the U.S. — their lowest-ever share of sales. Meanwhile, sales of fully electric vehicles and hybrids are climbing to new heights.

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The change is driven in part by a surge in sales for hybrid vehicles with a gas-powered engine and an onboard battery but no plug, which together with plug-in hybrids made up nearly 10 percent of new car sales last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But although hybrids burn less gas than a conventional car, they don’t offer a pathway to eliminating carbon pollution from vehicles.

Battery-electric vehicles, on the other hand, do. And the good news is that sales of 100 percent electric vehicles are also on a tear. Last year, despite some market difficulties, they accounted for 7 percent of new vehicle sales.

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But a February report from Clean Investment Monitor, a joint project between Rhodium Group and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, found that electric vehicle sales are on track for the U.S. to meet its climate goals — in spite of the industry’s current growing pains.