French EV Market Share Hit 1.16% In 2015, With 2016 Sales Rising Fast
Originally published on EV Obsession.
The share of the total French automotive market — cars and light-commercial vehicles — held by electric vehicles in 2015 was around 1.16%, according to the most recent figures from EV-Volumes.
Year-on-year growth for the French electric vehicle market — both all electrics (EVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) — was thus right around 68%, a substantial increase. Altogether around 26,550 plug-in vehicles were sold in France in 2015. The large growth in sales during 2015 puts France in eighth place out of the 40 markets tracked by EV-Volumes — as far as the share of the total automotive market held by electric vehicles.
The European market as a whole actually saw higher year-on-year growth (~99%), but most of the growth was clustered in just a few markets. Considering that growth in France during 2014 was only around 10%, and growth during 2013 was only around 25% though, the growth during 2015 was notable — representing a shift-change for the country.
Partly this was no doubt due to the introduction of higher electric vehicle purchase incentives in heavily polluted regions, and partly it was due to increasingly attractive options as far as electric vehicles go.
It should be noted here that the French automotive market as a whole (gas and diesel vehicles included) grew around 6% in 2015 as well.
EV-Volumes some more:
January and February 2016 showed no signs of slowdown, plug-in volumes and shares are 90% higher year-on-year, promising another good year for plug-in sales in France.
…More than in other markets, the BEV share held up well against the spree of new plug-in hybrids introduced in 2015. The share of pure EVs (was) still nearly 80%; lower than 2014, but still among the world’s highest. Incentives from the French “Bonus-Malus” taxation regime favor vehicles with up to 20g CO2/km, which receive up to €6300 tax return. Vehicles from 21g to 60g (most plug-in hybrids) receive up to €4000. Also the aforementioned Super-bonus for low-carbon vehicles is higher for BEVs: €3700 vs €2500 for plug-in hybrids. We expect the 80-20 split of BEV to PHEV to be maintained during 2016.
Electric vehicle sales in France during 2015 were dominated by the Renault Zoe, which took a 49% share of the electric market there during the year. Other countries that saw (relatively) strong Renault Zoe sales during 2015 were Norway, the UK, and Germany.
Image Credits: EV-Volumes
Reprinted with permission.
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
CleanTechnica Holiday Wish Book
Our Latest EVObsession Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
The next milestone will be when evs take the entire annual increase in sales and those of ICEVs peak. France isn’t there yet, but heading there.
Excellent chart. A very good way of showing significant part-year data.
You bet. In the us, for example, nearly new EVs sell for a tidy 7500 off of new sales price. And they can be had several years old for the low teens. Granted, range of existing EVs is severely limited, which causes the Chevy volt to hold its value nicely.
Great news and the right direction. Still very choppy and unpredictable growth – 10%, 25%, 68%, – on the shoulders of a handful of models with limited range and heavy subsidies.
These are the infancy years that have served to build a technical and manufacturing business foundation. Supply chains are settling into place. The market is, so far, largely oblivious. Next milestone: 5 reasonably priced 200 mile range models on the market. Then you will see some action at the consumer level.
I look forward to that next milestone and I agree the market still remains largely oblivious to the attempts to transition to renewable energy and electric transport. Fortunately Tesla breaking into mainstream media (outside sites like this) is starting to help. I have seen/read/heard mention of Tesla’s reservations for the Model 3 now from several mainstream media outlets. Although many people may have no idea who Tesla is or what they are doing this will hopefully get people talking and learning about what is going on. That in turn will hopefully result in pressure on major manufacturers to start offering serious EV vehicles.
My guess would be that the other legacy carmakers have joined VW in boardroom panic mode. The biggest strategic question they now face is how to survive the electric revolution. After the Model 3 launch, there can’t be many denialists left. It’s no longer about compliance.
Interesting thought. Toyota? Honda? Feeling invincible with multiple models in the top 10 sellers list and been there for decades now. Just more noise to them. What could possibly go wrong?
Know a good place to get my Kodak film developed? 😉
Hopefully Fastned can quickly spread across Europe, and electric vehicles can dominate, and replace dirty gas cars. Paris has extremely dirty air, and electric vehicles could be a solution.