Europe should fully switch to electric vehicles (EVs) in just over a decade, but the planned growth in sales of climate-friendly vehicles has stalled in the first half of 2024, new data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (Acea) has shown.
The figures show that a modest 4.4 percent of the total growth in new car sales in Europe comes primarily from hybrid vehicles. It certainly doesn’t fit the expectations of car companies trying to improve EV sales.
In the first half of 2024, new car registrations increased by 4.5 percent, reaching almost 5.7 million units. However, the volume of registration remains relatively low (-18 percent) compared to pre-pandemic levels. The largest markets in the EU bloc showed a positive but modest performance, with Spain (5.9 percent), Germany (5.4 percent), Italy (5.4 percent) and France (2.8 percent) recording growth.
Sales of hybrids, not including plug-in hybrids, increased by 21 percent, to slightly more than two million or almost 30 percent of the market.
Sales of electric vehicles increased in June by 1.6 percent year-on-year, to 954,094 units or 13.9 percent of the market.
In June, battery-powered cars accounted for 14.4 percent of the EU market, down from 15.1 percent the previous year. At the same time, hybrid electric vehicles increased their market share from 24.4 percent to 29.5 percent. The combined share of gasoline and diesel cars fell to 47.1 percent, from 49.6 percent.
The data show that drivers still prefer internal combustion engines, so gasoline vehicles have the largest market share in sales at 35.2 percent. However, sales are down by 1.5 percent. Diesel vehicles recorded an even greater decline, by 7.9 percent.
Sales of vehicles powered by fuel cells, natural gas, liquid petroleum gas, superethanol and other fuels were 6.9 percent higher, AFP reported.
Although European manufacturers have presented several new models of e-cars in the past period, it is obvious that this did not bear fruit, as the lack of sales growth is evident.
There are several factors that account for the decline in EV sales, and one of them is that government incentives for purchasing electric vehicles have declined in some countries and there are still few affordable models that could possibly be purchased by those with more modest earnings. .
Acea said that while total sales in the European car market rose modestly in the first half of the year to nearly 6.9 million vehicles, they remain well below pre-pandemic levels. About 8.7 million vehicles were sold in Europe in the first half of 2018.
China’s auto expansion worries Europe
While Europe worries about what will happen to electric cars, i.e. whether sales will grow year after year, China does not have that problem, so it is expected that Chinese car manufacturers will continue to rapidly conquer markets outside their home country to reach a 33 percent share. in the global automotive market by 2030, the report of the consulting company AlixPartners showed.
This Chinese automotive expansion worries European manufacturers, and to make the concern even greater is the fact that manufacturers of electric vehicles (EV) in China recorded growth in May, so the share of e-cars in total sales in this country amounted to 40 percent, i.e. – four out of ten passenger vehicles had a “plug”, reported Electrive.com.
In order to protect itself from the Chinese invasion of e-vehicles, the European Union introduced temporary higher tariffs on the import of electric vehicles from China, but also pointed out that it is still conducting negotiations with this country in order to resolve the situation.
The tariffs were imposed for nine months after the launch of an investigation into alleged subsidies in China, as the EC concluded that Chinese EV manufacturers are profiting from unjustified subsidies, thereby harming electric vehicle manufacturers in Europe. The temporary tariffs have been applied since July 5 and will be in effect for four months, until a new decision that could extend them to five years.
In the first six months, only 116 e-vehicles were sold in Serbia
Vehicles that use gasoline are still convincingly the first choice of buyers, with almost half of the total sales – that is, a percentage of 48.33 percent. The hybrid drive in a combination of gasoline and electricity is in the second position with 21.50 percent, and it is interesting that the number of sold vehicles with hybrid diesel-electric power is also increasing, so their share has reached 7.68 percent of the market. The Serbian Association of Vehicle and Parts Importers states that diesels are in third place with 19.53 percent.
Passenger vehicles with “factory gas”, built-in LPG drive and gasoline engine occupied 2.10 percent of the market. Only 116 electric vehicles were sold.
Source: Biznis.rs
Photo: Arhiva Autoblog.rs / Citroen
Source: autoblog.rs
