Q2 2016 Europe EV & PHEV Sales
Plug-in vehicle sales in Europe so far are 91.300 units until June, 21 % higher than for the same period in 2015. These include all BEV and PHEV passenger cars sales and light commercial vehicles in Europe. Plug-in share of the European light vehicle market reached between 1,1 and 1,2 % in the first 4 months, but fell back below last years shares in May and June. Growth for the 2nd quarter was just 13 %. The sluggish development relates to much lower sales in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Denmark compared to last year.
Norway, Sweden, France & U.K. continued the strong growth pace, volumes in Spain, Portugal, Austria, Finland and Belgium doubled or more, albeit from low levels. In Germany, growth slowed down in anticipation of the recently announced grants, the first applications could not be filed before July. Italy sales still stagnate.
The common trend is a shift in mix towards plug-in hybrids in nearly all markets, even in Norway, which traditionally is the worlds EV dorado. The exception is NL, where revised taxation lead to a collapse of PHEV sales, without favoring pure EVs either.
The growth is in Plug-in Hybrids
In all top-5 markets (in terms of light vehicle share) EVs lost volume and PHEVs gained, compared to 2015. In all markets, except Austria, PHEVs grew faster than pure EVs. New, attractive plug-in hybrid offers from popular brands and the still unsatisfactory range / charging convenience for most EVs are the main reason behind the development.
Regarding total-plug-in share, Norway is (as usual) off the chart. No other country is comes close to the 24 % share which Noway has performed during this year. Sweden now comes 2nd, the place held by the Netherlands last year. Belgium, Austria and the U.K. made it over the 1 % mark this year. Among the big-5 vehicle markets in Europe France clearly leads, whereas Germany and Italy are clearly below the European average share which is 1,1 % for the first half of 2016.
Zoe beats Outlander for #1
The June snapshot shows the growing popularity of the Renault Zoe, a pure EV which has been on the market since the beginning of 2013, without many changes. June is usually the best month for, both, the French vehicle market and for Zoe and it clearly shows in the ranking as the majority of Zoe sales are in France.
Tesla Model S sales nearly on par with Nissan Leaf is an anomaly which less relates to weak Leaf sales than the quarterly reporting cycles of Tesla earnings.
Volvo made a strong inroad into the top-10 with the XC90 Twin Engine. Available since late 2015 it found over 700 buyers in Europe for June and over 5000 in the first half of 2016.
BMW i3 had another weak month in anticipation of the 2017 model-year with 50 % more battery capacity.
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