It has been a while since I wrote a “What Changed In The EV Industry … ?” article, so I’m now rolling through three months of news as we approach the end of November.
Below is a roundup of notable September and October electric vehicle news.
While EV adoption is fairly well documented in North America, Europe, and Asia, other geographies have been mostly or entirely absent from the media coverage — like Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. While electric vehicles in most countries in these areas are still something for the future, there are some interesting cases that deserve special mention. As such, I have split this topic in three chapters — one for Africa, the second for the Middle East, and the third for Latin America. Here, I am covering chapter 1, Africa.
After a record-breaking September (104,900 plug-in electric vehicle sales), one would think that the market would take some time to breathe in October, but that wasn’t the case, with close to 120,000 registrations last month, breaking the previous record by a significant margin (14%). Overall, October 2018 electric vehicle sales were up 85% year over year (YoY).
Electric vehicles are gaining traction in China. Daniel Ren (via South China Morning Post) writes, “While US maker Tesla often grabs the headlines … BYD and peers like Beijing Auto and Roewe are quietly selling enough electric vehicles (EVs) to make China the world’s largest market for both electric and conventional vehicles. In fact, sales of EVs in China reached 770,000 units last year.”
After a few months threatening to break the all-time record (102,635 units, set last December), the Chinese plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) market finally hit a new high, with some 104,900 plug-in vehicles being registered in September, up 66% and in line with previous months’ growth rates.
Our friends at EV Volumes — true EV data fiends — have released another report on electric car sales and trends. There are another of interesting findings, but the chart that jumped out to me the most was one about battery chemistry.
Are the days of the gas guzzler numbered? Tom Raftery (via Forbes) says there are “seven reasons why the internal combustion engine is a dead man walking.” He explains, “Electric cars are the future. The transition has just begun, but the move from ICE vehicles to electric will happen sooner and more quickly than most people suspect.” Here’s why…
The Chinese plug-in vehicle (PEV) market hit its second best score this year, with some 93,000 units registered in August. However, it was up only 62%. This is a slowdown from the three-digit growth rates of previous months, and is explained by the fact that “new energy vehicle” subsidies were slashed for vehicles with range lower than 150 km. That happened in June, resulting in many small city EVs losing a large number of sales.
The Chinese plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) market is in summer-chill mode, with some 75,000 units being registered in July, up only 64%. Yes, this is a slowdown from the three-digit growth rates of previous months. It is explained by the fact that “New Energy” subsidies were slashed to vehicles with full-charge driving range lower to 150 km in June, so most small city EVs stopped seeing sales, draining a significant percentage of over PEV sales.
Tesla had more news, as usual. We also had a lot of fun talking about the Chinese and European EV markets. And then: The Batteries.
