While the electric car is still not taking off, or at least not at the speed that was expected, there is another type of electrification that is gaining ground in our market: more and more are being sold plug-in hybrids.
The last PHEV They offer greater electric range than ever before and can also be charged faster, which is why many users consider them to be the best option compared to pure electric vehicles, conventional hybrids or thermal vehicles. But there are other factors that explain the increase in sales of PHEVs in Europe.
More than 100 kilometers of electric autonomy, fast charging and tax incentives
According to what he points out Automotive News According to data from Dataforce, sales of PHEV (plug-in hybrid) cars in Europe have grown by 4.9% up to May of this year compared to the figures for 2023. In the same period, electric car registrations have only increased by 2.5%, so the acceptance of PHEVs is much greater.
There are several factors that explain this situation. The most important is the increase in electric autonomy offered by the latest PHEVs that are coming onto the market.
On the one hand, new batteries are allowing the range that a PHEV can travel in fully electric mode to be increased. This increase is positive for customers, but also for manufacturers because it will help them achieve their goals. new emissions targets set by the European Union for 2025.
Europe has finally realised that PHEV cars are not being used properly. Manufacturers authorise emissions figures, but many users do not worry about charging the battery of their PHEV cars, so they drive most of the time using the combustion engine, which means that real emissions are much higher than those authorised and they pollute more.
To prevent this, the European Union has revised the “utility factor” (percentage of EV use for CO₂ emissions) and has decided to set stricter emissions targets. The aim is to better reflect the real-world use of PHEVs. By increasing the electric range of their PHEV cars, brands will have a slightly easier time meeting the new targets.
While pure electric vehicles are still failing to take off, so much so that some manufacturers are rethinking their electrification strategy, the greater electric range of the new PHEVs is making them the best option for many users. What’s more, with diesel practically out of the picture, some drivers are finding PHEVs a good alternative when looking for a car for everything, i.e. for the city and for travelling.
There are already quite a few PHEVs that offer More than 100 km of electric autonomymore than enough to cover the daily journeys of almost all drivers. With the thermal part, these same models have a total autonomy that exceeds 800 km, so they are also very practical for travelling. It is a good way to take advantage of the benefits of electric mobility on a daily basis, without the disadvantages of an electric car.
In addition, some PHEVs already support fast charging, such as the new Volkswagen Passat Variant eHybrid, which can charge its 19.7 kWh (net) battery in DC at a maximum power of 50 kW, so it only needs 25 minutes to recover from 0 to 80%. The German family car has an approved electric range of 133 km and CO₂ emissions of just 8 g/km.
When a PHEV offered just over 30 km of electric range, users were not very interested in recharging it, but the 133 km of electric range of the Passat, or its Czech cousin, the Skoda Superb, and the ease of charging them, radically change things.
Both mainstream brands, including several Chinese ones such as MG and BYD, and premium brands are following this trend to increase the electric range of their PHEVs.
In some European countries, this translates into an extra boost in sales of this type of car due to the tax incentivesas in the UK and Germany. That is precisely why sales of PHEVs in Germany increased by 17% until May, while in the UK registrations of these vehicles increased by 31%.
In Spainon the other hand, PHEV sales fell by 16.5% in June, with 5,445 units registered, equivalent to 4.42% of the market share in that month. For the year as a whole, sales of these vehicles totalled 31,322 units, 1.8% less than in the same period last year. The market share for the year-to-date for PHEVs is 4.89%.
Despite this, the arrival of new PHEVs with greater electric autonomy and faster charging should be an incentive for sales of this type of vehicle in our country as well. In the particular case of Spain, PHEVs with more than 40 km of autonomy have the DGT ZERO label and that is also an added value.
Source: www.motorpasion.com
