October in Sweden saw a huge new record of 36.2% plugin electric vehicle market share, up 3× from 12% in October 2019. As usual, plugin hybrids made the largest contribution, though the 8.2% share of pure electrics was very substantial in its own right. The full year result is now tracking to reach at least 30%.
Of the 36.2% combined plugin result, almost three quarters was contributed by plugin hybrids (PHEVs) at 28%, and the remaining 8.2% came from full battery electrics (BEVs). For the cumulative year-to-date tally, PHEVs stand at 21% whilst BEVs are at 8% for a combined 29%. This is up from an 11% cumulative tally at this point in 2019.
The PHEV best sellers were again dominated by homegrown Volvos and the very popular Kias, in line with recent months. Looking at the best sellers in the BEV category, we find the Polestar 2 leading the pack for the first time (thanks in part to Tesla not having a timely Model 3 shipment for the month):
The Polestar 2 continues its progress despite suffering significant teething problems involving two recalls since its launch in the summer, which CEO Ingenlath said he was “saddened by” in a recent interview with die Welt. Scaling up BEVs is of course a learning curve, and Polestar is embracing the challenge.
Polestar 2. Image courtesy Polestar.
PHEVs will see their incentives slightly reduced following changes in this year’s autumn budget, which combined with more variety and lowering costs of BEVs, and improving DC charging infrastructure, should lead to a rebalancing of the BEV vis-a-vis PHEV share in 2021 and onwards.
Industry association BIL Sweden still expects a combined plugin market share of over 30% for the full year 2020. This now seems like a safe bet, as both September and October have trended substantially above 30% share, and November and December almost inevitably will also.
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.
