Electric Car Sales = 22% Of Car Sales In Netherlands In December 2015
Originally published on EV Obsession.
Electric vehicle sales in the Netherlands hit an all-time high in December 2015 — with more electric vehicles being delivered in the country during the month than during all of 2014 combined — according to the most recent figures from EV-Volumes, an EV sales database and consultancy that has just partnered with EV Obsession and CleanTechnica.
The reason for the surge in electric car sales — both all-electrics (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) — was primarily down to changes to the incentives on offer set to go into effect at the beginning of 2016. As a result, PHEV sales surged, as those interested in purchasing one rushed to do so.
Altogether, 15,900 electric vehicles were registered in the Netherlands during December — more than 7 times the “normal” monthly rate. Electric vehicles managed to achieve a 22% market share during the month in the country!
EV-Volumes provides more:
In total for 2015, plug-in vehicle reached 43,300 units, +183% over 2014, making NL the largest market for this vehicle sector in Europe and the 3rd largest worldwide. PEV share was 8.5% for the year, the worlds second highest after Norway. We have seen these runs on PHEVs before, during Q4 of 2013 in NL and during Q4 of 2015 in Sweden. So, what happened this time?
The taxation scheme in NL is tough on cars with high emissions. It follows a progressive pattern; pure EVs pay little or no taxes, PHEVs ≤ 50 g CO2/km get strong tax reductions. For a vehicle emitting, eg 174 gram CO2 per km, the registration tax (BMP) is around €15,000. Also the company car taxation is heavily depending on the CO2 emission. These taxes depend on the registration date of the vehicle.
For all vehicles acquired after 31 December 2015, CO2 brackets are lowered and the cost per g CO2 increases. For PHEVs ≤ 50 g CO2/km the road tax exemption ends and the benefit in kind value (BIK) for company car taxation is raised from 7% to 15% of the vehicles value; it is 25% for conventional cars. For pure EVs, the BIK value is lowered from 4% to nil.
So, pretty much anyone who wanted a PHEV, rather than a pure EV, went ahead and made their purchase while it was the most economical… presumably.
Image Credits: EV-Volumes
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