Features
13 mai 20

EV sales more than doubled in Europe

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, new car sales of electric vehicles is doing well. Figures from association ACEA show that in the first quarter of 2020, the EV segment more than doubled its market share compared to last year, rising to 6.8% (from 2.5% in Q1 2019). By contrast, demand for ICE vehicles dropped dramatically, although petrol-powered cars still account for more than half of the EU market.

During the first quarter of 2020, the number of diesel cars registered in the European Union dropped by 32.6% to 738,392. Diesel now holds a market share of 29.9% . All the markets in the region went into decline, notably the four largest ones: Italy (-49.8%), France (-36.6%), Spain (-33.8%) and Germany (-23.0%).

Petrol sales contracted by more than 30%, from almost 2 million units last year to 1.3 million in Q1 2020. 
 

Powertrain Market share in % Q1 2020 Q1 2019
Petrol 52.3 57.7
Diesel 29.9 33.2
Hybrid 9.4 4.9
Electric (PHEV + BEV) 6.8 2.5
Other alternative powertrains 1.6 1.7


The rising success of alternative powertrains
Electrically-chargeable vehicles (ECV) benefited from the decline in diesel and petrol demand. ECV sales more than doubled (+100.7%) in the first three months of the year, totalling 167,132 cars registered across the EU. Both the battery-electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) segments provided a strong boost to this growth (+68.4 and +161.7% respectively).

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) remained the best-sellers of the alternatively-powered vehicle segment, representing 9.4% of the total EU car market. 232,525 units were registered during the first quarter of the year (+45.1% compared to 2019).

The four major markets in the EU all posted growth in total alternatively-powered vehicle registrations from January to March this year. Germany and France stood out with demand increasing by 74.9% and 71.7% respectively, boosted by the outstanding performance of the plug-in hybrid segment.

Source: ACEA, 2020.
Picture copyright: Shutterstock. 

Authored by: Steven Schoefs