According to a Transport & Environment report, Europe poured €60 billion into EV production and EV battery production in 2019, a whopping 19 times more money than it put into them in 2018.
If those figures aren’t shocking enough, the following may do the trick: 3.5 times more money was put into EVs and EV batteries by corporations and governments in Europe than in China! Europe is the new China.
You can already see some of the results of that. EV market share has been skyrocketing in Europe. From January through May, EV market share was 7.2% in the UK, 7.6% in Germany, 9.2% in France, 12% in the Netherlands, and 56% in Norway.
The report expects the 2019 trend to continue in 2020 as part of European countries’ covid-19 recovery plans.
A whopping two-thirds of the European investments were in Germany (€40 billion), in large part due to Volkswagen Group’s shift and the large corporation ramping up production capacity. The Czech Republic, where Volkswagen Group also has production facilities (recall that it owns SEAT), absorbed €6.6 billion of the €60 billion investment, more than 10%. The only other country with more than approximately €1 billion invested was Italy, with €1.75 billion in investments from Fiat.
A large part of this large influx in e-mobility investments is thanks, very simply, to policy. Saul Lopez, e-mobility manager at T&E, noted:
“A few years ago Europe was nowhere in the race for EV supremacy. But EU CO2 targets concentrated carmakers and governments’ minds to invest €60 billion in electric cars and batteries and finally close the gap with China. Success in this market is now Europe’s industrial policy, and lawmakers should double-down with stimulus measures that will also drive a green recovery.”
On the battery side, CATL invested €1.8 billion in Germany, Northvolt invested €1 billion in Sweden, and SAFT invested €200 million in France.
Apart from Volkswagen Group, the second largest automaker investment was Tesla investing €4 billion into Germany, where it has been building its 3rd automotive gigafactory (the 1st is in Nevada and the 2nd is in Shanghai, China).
The only automaker other than Volkswagen, Tesla, and Fiat to invest more than €1 billion in Europe in 2019 was Jaguar Land Rover, at €1.2 billion, in the UK.
What do you think 2020 will bring?
Both graphics courtesy Transport & Environment
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
