ACEA confirms growing switch to EVs

Growing interest in and sales of electric vehicles have been confirmed by the latest figures from ACEA which show that EVs took a 7.2% share of all European new car sales in the second quarter of this year.

The European manufacturers’ association latest data shows that from April to June this year – when much of Europe was in some form of lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic - sales of EVs amounted to 129,344 new units, three times that of the same quarter last year.

Sales of conventionally powered petrol and diesel cars were hit hard by the pandemic, falling by more than half during the period but still accounting for more than 80% of new car sales.

The number of diesel cars registered in the EU over the second quarter of the year fell by 53.4% to 526,645 units - a market share of 29.4%, down from 32% in 2019.

Petrol sales posted similar declines, falling by 55% and going from over 2 million units last year to 929,309 in the second quarter of 2020.

All of the main EU new car markets have recorded double-digit falls so far this year, with petrol sales during the three-month period down by 73% in Spain and 49% in France.

Meanwhile, registrations of electrically-chargeable vehicles (ECV) rose by 53.3% across the EU.

Sales of plug-in hybrids (PHEV) played a major role in this growth and were up 134% with 66,128 new cars sold. The increase in registrations of battery electric vehicles (BEV) was more modest at just under 13%, totalling 63,216 units.

Hybrid electric vehicles remained the biggest sellers throughout Europe with 172,149 new cars registered in total and representing 9.6% of the EU car market. This was despite a slight decline during the second quarter when sales dipped by 7.2%.

Sales of passenger cars running on the alternative fuels ethanol (E85), liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas (NGV) halved from April to June this year, mainly due to a contraction of the Italian market, which is the biggest one for these alternative fuel types.

With 34,656 units sold over the period, alternative fuels held a market share of 1.9% during the second quarter.

All alternatively-powered vehicles (APV) combined represented 18.7% of the EU car market – 335,906 units were sold from April to June 2020, 1.1% less than in 2019, despite the impact of the pandemic.

Among the four major markets, in terms of total new car sales France was up 51%, and Germany rose by 20.6%, mainly driven by sales of plug-in hybrids. By contrast, the markets in Spain fell 46% and Italy dropped 30% in the second quarter, owing to the negative performance of the hybrid and LPG segments respectively in those countries.

Thibault Alleyn, Head of Fleet Logistics’ new Global Mobility Solutions division, said the results were not surprising. “We are seeing a large amount of interest from clients wishing to go down an electrification route with their fleets.

“Many are at a transition stage, but as the sales figures show, there is a growing desire to go electric where possible and we are working with a number of clients to help them put the right plans in place to facilitate this,” he said.

If you wish to find out how Fleet Logistics Group can help you go down an electrification route for your fleet, please contact Thibault Alleyn at +32 475 705 755 or email talleyn@fleetvision.biz