For the first time, the market share of new electric cars in the EU has reached the 20 percent threshold. In addition, car sales recovered from the delivery bottlenecks last year.
The proportion of newly registered electric cars on the European car market rose to over 20 percent for the first time in August. A total of 787,626 new vehicles were sold in the European Union (EU) last month, the industry association ACEA announced today. Of these, 165,165 were purely electric – more than twice as many as a year earlier (plus 118 percent).
Germany as a driver in the electric car boom
The proportion of battery cars rose particularly sharply in Belgium: the growth rate was almost 225 percent. But in Germany the increase was also comparatively strong at 170 percent. This means that registrations of electric cars in this country accounted for around 32 percent of EU sales – fifth place in a European comparison. The proportion was only higher in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands. According to ACEA, almost a million electric vehicles were sold in the EU from January to August.
“The Europe-wide electric boom is likely to have reached its peak in August,” said Constantin M. Gall, Managing Partner and Head of Mobility at EY for the Europe West region, dampening the euphoria. On the one hand, Germany is no longer a growth driver because commercial purchases of electric cars have no longer been subsidized since September. On the other hand, the management consultancy is already seeing the first signs of slowing development in some other countries.
“The market is still very much driven by government subsidies – when these expire or are reduced, the momentum also collapses,” explained Gall. Added to this is the global economic weakness, which will also have an impact on the electric car market. With a view to Germany, EY predicts a decline in new commercial electric car registrations in the coming months, which accounted for 75 percent of all new electric car registrations in August.
EY expects weak car sales in the coming year
Meanwhile, general car sales in the EU appear to have recovered from the delivery bottlenecks. ACEA said that new registrations were up 21 percent compared to the previous year. In the first eight months of the year, almost 7.1 million cars were sold – an increase of around 18 percent. Last year, the shortage of electronic chips and other components led to limited capacities and thus slowed car production.
However, sales are still well below pre-crisis levels. According to ACEA information, almost two million or 17 percent fewer vehicles were sold from January to August than in the pre-Corona year of 2019. In 22 of the 27 EU member states, sales last month were below the level of August 2022, EY said with. “The current market growth is due, on the one hand, to the extraordinarily low level of the previous year and, on the other hand, to the still quite high order backlog,” says Gall.
The chip shortage is now largely a thing of the past, so the recovery will continue until the end of the year. “Then the orders from the time of the chip shortage will also have been processed,” warns the expert. Given the current economic situation, reduced purchasing power and high interest rates, he is pessimistic about the year 2024. “The current order situation indicates weak sales development in the coming year,” says Gall. This leads to overcapacity and increasing price pressure. In order to stabilize sales, there is expected to be a discount battle in the coming months.