February saw the UK plug-in passenger vehicle market share more than double year-on-year to 5.7%. Meanwhile, diesel vehicle sales dropped over 27% from February 2019, and now represent under 22% of the auto market, one of the lowest figures in Europe.
Germany, Europe’s single largest auto market, saw February plug-in vehicle market share hit 6.9%, consolidating January’s growth trend. Meanwhile, February’s overall auto volume fell by 10.8% year-on-year in Germany, from 268,867 to 239,943, with combustion vehicles taking all of the losses.
Norway, the global leader in the transition to electric vehicles, has seen its strongest ever February with over 68% market share for plug-in passenger vehicles. The vast majority of plug-ins were pure electric (BEV), which took 49.7% of the overall market.
January saw fossil fuel passenger vehicle sales plummet in Sweden by almost 40% year on year, with diesels more than halved, as plug-in vehicle market share climbed to over 30%. Sweden’s auto industry organization expects 30% to be maintained through the full year of 2020.
UK combustion vehicle sales fell 18% year on year in January as plug-in electric vehicles took almost 6% of the market, up from 2.2% a year ago. Diesel sales were hit particularly hard, selling 36% less volume than January 2019. Will the UK government’s recent target of phasing out combustion vehicles by 2035 be overtaken by consumer preferences?
Europe’s largest auto market, Germany, saw January fossil fuel vehicle sales drop by over 15% year-on-year, with gasoline vehicles alone down over 17%. Meanwhile, EVs increased their market share to 6.5% from 2.5%. Europe’s big five markets are now at a combined 6.0% EV market share. What progress will full year 2020 bring overall?
Norway, the undisputed global leader in the EV transition, hit 64.4% EV market share in January, with over 44% share for pure electrics and 20% for plug-in hybrids. This best-ever-January result was achieved before 2020 shipments of the top selling Tesla Model 3 have even arrived in the country, with the Audi e-tron (902 units) and Renault Zoe (533 units) seeing the highest January volumes.
France, the world’s 8th largest auto market, just hit 11% electric vehicle market share in January, a year-on-year growth of 4×. Meanwhile, diesel and gasoline vehicle sales crashed by ~25% year on year.
BNEF’s reputation as progressive on EV adoption projections is in question after its latest Electric Vehicle Outlook report trims its previous projections of sales across the coming decade down 10%, and assumes annual growth rates will quickly drop to 23–24% from the current rate of 56%.
The China passenger car association’s first quarter figures are in, and electric vehicle sales continue their rapid rise, up 118% year on year, to over 254,000. Meanwhile, fossil vehicle sales have fallen 13% year on year, to 4,823 thousand for the quarter.
