The Netherlands had 2,058 plug-in electric vehicle registrations in October, up 147% year over year (YoY), which translates into a plug-in electric vehicle share of 6.8% in the country. That also pulls the year-to-date count to 17,035 units, with the 2018 plug-in electric vehicle share now growing to 4.3%.
Sales of cars with electric motors accounted for more than 7% of BMW sales in the US in October. That’s good but down from last year. The Chevy Bolt and Nissan LEAF are limping along. The big news is the Tesla Model 3, which is taking America by storm.
In September 2018, the European passenger plug-in vehicle market stagnated (+1%), scoring some 32,700 registrations. That pulled the year-to-date count to some 275,000 deliveries, meaning a 2.2% market share in 2018 so far.
Exponential electric vehicle adoption has been at play in Norway for several years. I remember attending EVS27 in Barcelona back in late 2013 and the hottest news of previous months had been Norway achieving stunning EV market share milestones. That October, plug-in vehicles had risen to 8% market share! Electric cars had been the top selling cars in the country two months in a row — the Tesla Model S in September and the Nissan LEAF in October. The market share had been 7% in September. 7% and 8% market share were figures no other country would touch for years.
It’s no secret that legacy automakers are making the transition to electric vehicles only reluctantly, in response to regulatory pressure from governments and to competitive pressure from Tesla. Contrary to what many seem to believe, Big Auto’s reluctance to embrace EVs is not merely the usual corporate fear of the future, nor is it the result of any oil industry-fueled conspiracy (as far as we know). It’s a simple matter of money — there are good reasons to believe that electrification will take a major bite out of industry profits, as BMW and Daimler execs recently acknowledged.
The German plug-in electric passenger car market was down 12% in September, to 4,626 registrations, with PHEVs stumbling 24% year over year (YoY). This was no doubt due to the pre-WLTP summer sales rush. Nonetheless, fully electric cars (BEVs) kept on growing (+5%), allowing full electrics to sell at the same level as PHEVs.
September had 2,796 plug-in vehicle registrations, which was the market’s best result since 2016. That translated into a plug-in vehicle (PEV) share of 9.5% in the country. The result pulls the year-to-date count to 14,977 units, with the 2018 PEV share growing to 4.1%.
New car sales in Europe and the Uk have gone over a cliff since the new WLTP fuel economy standard took effect on September 1. That may be a good thing for hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric cars.
The European passenger plug-in market grew slightly above average last month (42% in August vs 41% year to date). The continent registered some 30,000 plug-in cars, pulling the year-to-date (YTD) count to some 242,000 deliveries and pushing the 2018 market share to 2.3%. For the month of August, the market share was 2.7%.
As a German engineer, I am today more than ever concerned about the ability of our auto industry to survive and prosper. I write this as a person who loves his country, the people, and my fast German car, a true masterpiece of technology.
