German electric car sales surge in 2020 fuels record 38% global growth
11 March, 2021
Global electric car sales rose by a record 38 per cent in 2020, taking the full total number on the world's roads to 10.9 million.
Dubai also saw a amazing 95 per cent upsurge in electric car sales.
The surge confounds the Covid-propelled overall plunge in 2020, which data company JATO Dynamics estimates led to 7.7 million fewer cars sold in the most notable 11 global markets.
Although China remains the dominant force by an order of magnitude, its electric car sales grew just three % in 2020.
The meagre rise contrasts starkly with Germany where year-on-year sales jumped 264 per cent, from 108,530 to 394,632 registrations - the next highest number globally.
Germany’s electric influx was replicated across Europe. France and the UK performed strongly with 180 % and 140 % growth respectively, while sales in Denmark (245 per cent) and Italy (250 %) rocketed.
The picture in the US was far less green. Whilst the 177 million electric cars in its fleet mean it really is still the second greatest market behind China, sales actually dropped in 2020.
Why electric cars sales are growing faster in Germany
Sparkling electric car sales in Germany could be largely ascribed to its reduced VAT and stimulus packages - in fact it is stimuli which includes ignited growth in Europe as states seek to meet up their carbon reduction pledges.
State support can’t underpin the electric car transition for long, however, said Prof. Dr. Frithjof Staiß, managing director of German sustainable energy firm ZSW.
“To attain the German government’s goal of putting seven to 10 million electric cars on the highway by 2030 within an efficient way, these subsidised stimuli will have to steadily transition to market-driven growth,” he said.
“That may take around one million newly registered electric cars a year typically. The new EU climate action goal - which we are able to expect to be a lot more ambitious - will probably require a far larger share of electric cars than previously targeted.
“That’s why [2020's] success is just a start.”
The largest selling electric carmakers and models in 2020
German carmakers appear finally to be on board with Prof Staiß’s message, although their new-found resolve could be ascribed less to a desire to midwife a fresh generation of electric mobility, and more to a determination never to let Elon Musk eat both his cake and theirs.
The Silicon Valley mogul is creating a gigafactory on the outskirts of Berlin in which he intends to create 500,000 Teslas a year - an incursion of breath-taking chutzpah given Germany's rich automotive heritage.
Within the German fight, Porsche has already presented the all-electric Taycan and in February announced that by 2030 most of its cars will be electric.
Mercedes and Audi are also on the cusp of launching electric vehicles which aren’t just adaptions of pre-existing internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
German carmakers' born-again electric evangelism is yet to see one of these overhaul Tesla in the electric car sales charts - but three are in the top six for 2020.
Tesla retained its lead in new registrations with 499,600 units while VW Group followed closely behind with 421,600.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com