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GRA

Well-known member
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IEVS:
Let's Look At 2019 California EV Sales Via Veloz Sales Dashboard
https://insideevs.com/news/400378/2019-california-ev-sales-veloz/


The year 2019 was noticeably slower in terms of EV sales in California, but that's only when comparing it to the peak year of 2018.
According to Veloz’s Sales Dashboard, electric car sales (including all-electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen fuel cell) in California remain steady in terms of market share, as the overall car sales declined.

The nonprofit organization estimated that sales in 2019 amounted to 156,101 (BEVs/PHEVs/FCVs), which is 12.4% less than a year ago (178,134), although at a market share of 8.26% (similar to 8.91% year earlier).

California remains also the top market in the U.S. with 47% share of the country (331,617).

The numbers for the fourth quarter were not too good: 42,248 BEVs/PHEVs/FCVs (down 32%), at 45% share of the total in the U.S. but with all new models announced for the near future, Veloz is rather optimistic about the future. . . .


There are a variety of graphs and charts.
 
GCC:
CNCDA: registration of electrified vehicles up 3.6% in California in 2019, while total car reg down 5.5%
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/02/20200225-cncda.html


Registrations of new electrified light-duty vehicles (HEVS, PHEVs and EVs) in California rose 3.6% to 250,566 units in 2019, up from 241,970 units, according to the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA), using data from IHS.

Overall, the California new light-duty vehicle market declined 5.5% from 2018 to 2019 (2,002,047 to 1,892,672 units), while the total US market fell 1.1% (17,115,072 units to 16,931,012 units).

The California new vehicle market recorded its 11th consecutive year-over-year quarterly decline in the Fourth Quarter of 2019. New vehicle registrations in the state fell 7.0% in 4Q19 vs. the 3.8% drop in 3Q19.

The electrified vehicle market put in a strong showing due partly to a resurgence in demand for conventional hybrids. After annual declines for several years, registrations of new HEVs in 2019 jumped 24.2% to 104,702 units, according to CNCDA, even outpacing the strong California EV market.

Registrations of new light-duty EVs in California climbed only 5% in 2019, to 99,704 units from 94,801 the year before. PHEVs, which have been outsold by both HEVs and EVs since 2014, saw their registrations drop to 46,160 units in 2019, a decline of 26.6%.

Overall, according to CNCDA, registrations of new plug-in vehicles (PHEVs and EVs) dropped 7.5% from 2018 to 2019, from 157,648 to 145,864 units, with the result driven by the slowing rate of increased EV sales not able to offset the drop in PHEV sales.

Market share. As a result, HEVs hels a 5.5% market share in California in 2019, EVs held a 5.3% marketshare and PHEVs held a 2.4% marketshare, for a combined hybrid/electric vehicle market share in 2019 of 13.2%.

Tesla by itself took a 3.8% market share in 2019 in California, up 0.3 percentage points from the year before. However, 4Q19 California new vehicle registrations for Tesla were down 46.1% from 4Q18—from 25,961 units to 13,999 units. Tesla holds a 1.1% market share in the US.

Overall, the California light truck share was up 3.2 percentage points in 2019 to 58.4%. US light truck share was up 3.1 percentage points to 71.9% in 2019.


There's a graph.
 
IEVS:
Global Plug-In Electric Car Sales In January 2020: 150,000
https://insideevs.com/news/401632/global-plugin-sales-january-2020/


January 2020 is almost nothing like 2019 as European brands take top spots.
The year 2020 started with a decline of global passenger plug-in electric car sales, although we remain cautiously optimistic (as the surge in Europe almost offset the drop in China).

January was the seventh consecutive month of decrease - by 7% year-over-year to about 150,600, at a market share of 2%.

See more of our sales reports for January 2019 here.

The interesting thing is that all-electric cars noted a 23% decline, while plug-in hybrids went up by 37%.

Models rank

Tesla Model 3 (10,013) was reportedly the top-selling model globally in January, but the biggest surprise was a similar result posted by Renault ZOE (9,873). Those two leaders far exceed other plug-ins.

The best of the rest was surprisingly the struggling Nissan LEAF (4,967).

Detailed stats of the top 20 models, provided by the EV Sales Blog, reveal a few new faces and zero Chinese models in the top 10. It's a really disturbing time. . . .

Manufacturers rank

Manufacturers rank shows a huge comeback for European brands (4 in top 5) and retreat of Chinese (first is at #6). It's too early to judge the perspective for 2020, but growth in Europe combined with the weakened Chinese market turned everything upside down.

We expect deep changes to the top 20 list throughout the year, but it's clear that big western OEMs are now in the game for real - they have to be, as otherwise European emission requirements would put them out of business.

Top 5 YTD:

  • BMW: 12,976
    Tesla: 12,779
    Renault: 10,053
    Volkswagen: 9,710
    Peugeot: 7,887

There are a number of graphs and charts.
 
IEVS:
Top 10 Countries In The Global EV Revolution: 2019 Edition
https://insideevs.com/news/402528/top-10-global-ev-countries-2019/


Welcome to my sixth annual Top Countries list! The disclaimer, same as in last 2 years:

1. The score is multi-faceted rather than representing solely consumer sales, and

2. This is a global challenge, to which different countries can contribute in different ways, and the big picture must be in view. The advantage goes to countries that contribute in multiple ways rather than only one way. . . .

Some numbers and percentages in Europe may look different from what you see elsewhere, because I’ve added light-commercial vehicle sales to numerator and denominator, to make the comparison with North America equitable – and also due to additional context-driven tweaks. . . .

To business: I slightly tweaked the scoring system to make it a tad less generous and reduce some distortions. Will try to keep it the same in 2020. Like in recent years the biggest gaps are between #1, 2 and 3, with the latter heading a rather dense middle pack. So winning the bronze is like winning the lottery! And this year it is a new face there. . . .


Also IEVS:
Carlos Tavares: We Are Selling Our EVs To Green Addicts
https://insideevs.com/news/402234/carlos-tavares-selling-evs-to-green-addicts/


Carlos Tavares says that EVs are still too expensive to appeal to the mainstream market.

Carlos Tavares, the CEO of the PSA Group and soon also the boss of the combined PSA-FCA group, recently shared thoughts about electric car sales.

Despite PSA Group noting a record of more than 12,000 plug-ins sold in January in Europe, Tavares said recently that electric cars lack mainstream appeal and are basically dependent on subsidies:


  • "Electric cars are only bought by “green addicts” and lack broader appeal needed to reach mainstream consumers"

    “We are selling our electric vehicles to green addicts. We didn’t move to the pragmatists,”

    “When some markets are cancelling some subsidies, demand collapses,”

The main problem highlighted by Tavares is the high price of EVs. The others are charging, range and price of electricity in the future:


  • “The battle from now on is that zero emission vehicles become affordable between now and 2025,”

    "The lack of a dense charging network, the limited operating range of electric cars as well as uncertainties surrounding the long-term price of electricity, are hindering a broader adoption of electric cars, Tavares said
    ."

In consequence, PSA decided on a flexible strategy with universal vehicle platforms to handle all types of powertrains (internal combustion engine, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and all-electric) . . .
 
Both IEVS:
Despite Market Crisis, Italy's EV Sales Skyrocket In February
https://insideevs.com/news/402489/italy-ev-sales-february-huge-progress/


EV Sales in Italy are up 10 times over last year's numbers. . . .

2,530 fully electric cars were sold in February (they were just 253 this month last year), a new all-time high that also tops by 30% the previous record of 1943 units sold in January. In a domestic car market that is down 8.4% year over year for the month – less than 164,000 cars sold compared to almost 179,000 in February 2019 – electric mobility shows no sign of stopping its march to mainstream, reaching 1.5% share of BEVs, an unthinkable figure for Italy’s car market only months ago. Plug-in hybrids also achieved good numbers with 1219 units (up from 269 a year ago) for a 0.7% share of the market, but it’s increasingly clear that interest for PHEVs is not as strong as that for BEVs despite the growing number of available models.

Meanwhile, diesel cars continued their downward trend, losing almost 30% monthly registrations year over year, while retaining a 34.8% market share (45.1% a year ago). It is clearly a tough moment for traditional models, as petrol and non-plug-in hybrid cars are unable to offset declining diesel sales. . . .

There are charts.


Plug-In EV Car Sales More Than Doubled In UK In February 2020
https://insideevs.com/news/402574/plugin-car-sales-uk-february-2020/


The British rushed to buy all-electric cars. In February, sales of BEVs increased almost 3.5 times.
Plug-in electric car sales in the UK increased in February by 117% year-over-year to 4,566 new registrations, exceeding conventional hybrids (4,154 and 71.9% increase).

As the overall number of new registrations went down by 2.9% to 79,594, the market share for plug-ins grew to an outstanding 5.74% (one per 17.4 new cars).

  • Plug-in Electric Car Registrations in the UK – February 2020
    BEVs 2,508 (up 243% year-over-year) at market share of 3.2%
    PHEVs: 2,058 (up 50% year-over-year) at market share of 2.6%
    Total: 4,566 (up 117% year-over-year) at market share of 5.9%

Since the hybrids are now finding fewer customers than plug-ins, it's time to increase the pace and beat all non-plug-in hybrids (HEVs and MHEVs). . . .

More charts.
 
This may have something to do with less human interaction to "refuel" an EV, and at least a perception that the grid is more sound in a crisis than the gasoline supply chain.
 
You can find enough charts to make your head spin out there.

My take on this is -
1) cumulative sales is worthless because you can always make this graph look good, because it will constantly be going up...

2) You cannot go by what Europe is doing with EVs... England, Italy, others. They are countries with cities that are thousands of years old, with very expensive gas, and many do not need long distance vehicles. They still ride bicycles and Vespas everywhere.

3) California sales - They have always been the early adopters of everything.... EVs, Liberalism, welcoming the homeless, etc. Although they are very much pro EVs, it does not represent the sentiment of the entire country. Their sales on the charts have dropped....??

I have been into new automotive tech since the 1960s and have seen many fads come and go. Overall, I think that all these charts are saying that :

1) The EV is not "taking over" as a new revolutionary OR EVEN evolutionary transportation product. In the 1990s Chevrolet started with the EV1 EV and stopped it in a blink of an eye. Today, I think that car companies have been bravely entering the EV market in an effort to test the waters of the consumer and use the EV as a tax credit write-off.

2) People, especially in the U.S., have become so fickle in their expectations that there is no room for an EV in their lifestyle. People expect nothing LESS than the large SUVs, and for the sake of convenience (and their own ego) are STILL not interested in even smaller gas cars. People are actually going in the OTHER direction... I see more giant, screaming pickup trucks flying by than ever before on CITY roads where pickups are not needed for work. Would the country accept needing to charge their car daily, plan their trips regarding the miles they drive, or not being able to fuel up in 5 minutes? I don't think so.

My take on the charts after following the journey of the EV for the last 10 years is that the EV has made become a viable vehicle for those who understand its benefits and limitations BUT... The EV will AT BEST continue to be a fringe, specialty car like 2 door convertibles, microcars like the Smart, or cars with diesel engines AND... OH YES! The GM fiasco of making a V8 diesel that would blow up, or the V8 that would turn off cylinders to make it a V6 and a V4! AT WORST - The EV will run its course as a fad, and will be allowed (by car manufacturers) to die a slow, quiet death. My additional thought that will keep the EV as a fringe specialty vehicle is that the large batteries require Lithium, which is a relatively rare element, and I understand that the earth cannot produce enough Lithium for the millions of cars needed to make the switch from gas to electric.

Proof of this is seen in the large number of manufacturers that introduce ONE EV/ Hybrid car and then drop it within 1-2 years because no one bought them.. For Example I walked into a Subaru dealer last week that had a Crosstrek EV/ Hybrid that has been on the lot for almost 1 year and they have not been able to sell if... Would you buy a Subaru EV that has only made 1000 units? Try getting parts for THAT car....
 
Cost of crude oil just went down again- when (or IF) it ever approaches the ACTUAL cost of producing and burning oil, the EV may look like a better option (as it does in Europe...)
 
dmacarthur said:
Cost of crude oil just went down again- when (or IF) it ever approaches the ACTUAL cost of producing and burning oil, the EV may look like a better option (as it does in Europe...)
Yes. And looking ahead, a lot of wells are not going to be drilled in the near future. Once Covid-19 is out of the way, probably by vaccine but perhaps by case tracking and isolation, then demand for oil will likely rebound and hit a reduced supply. As an automaker, would you like to switch to gas hogs thinking low prices are forever, or get ready to ramp up EVs?

High gas prices cause more well drilling and thus low oil/gasoline prices.
Low gas prices cause less well drilling and thus oil/gasoline gas prices.

Wells are getting more expensive to drill for the amount of oil recovered, so the long term trend will be to higher gas prices.
 
IEVS:
France Tripled Plug-In Electric Car Sales In February 2020
https://insideevs.com/news/402936/france-plugin-car-sales-february-2020/


Peugeot e-208 sales are now pretty close to Renault ZOE, while Tesla Model 3 emerged as the best of the rest.
February 2020 was the second straight month of a plug-in electric car sales surge in France - slightly below January records, but the month was shorter too.

The total new plug-in car registrations increased by an amazing 192% year-over-year to 14,055!

The number of 13,351 passenger plug-in cars represents about 8% of the total passenger car market.


  • Passenger BEVs: 9,452 (up 228%), at 5.6% of the market
    Passenger PHEVs: 3,899 (new record) (up 208%), at 2.3% of the market
    Light commercial BEVs: 704 (up 6%)
    Total plug-ins: 14,055 (up 192%)

The year 2020 is expected to be a true breakthrough in most of Europe right now, as manufacturers are required to significantly lower their average CO2 emission, which might be achieved basically only by selling electrified models (at least hybrids) in volume.

Over the last two months, plug-in car sales in France almost reached 29,500, while the cumulative number passed 305,000 (including 240,000 BEVs and 65,000 PHEVs). . . .


and
Spain Starts 2020 With Record Plug-In Electric Car Sales
https://insideevs.com/news/402886/spain-january-february-2020-record-ev-sales/

. . . In January, sales reached a new all-time high of 3,265 with almost 400 Renault ZOE registrations. Then, February brought another 2,912 (2nd best ever) doubling the result from 2019.

The market share for plug-ins in Spain last month was around 3.3%, and 58% of the volume falls on BEVs.

Plug-in electric car sales in Spain – February 2020
The French plug-ins seem to be the most popular at the moment, as besides the Renault ZOE, the Spanish appreciate also the new Peugeots.

Interestingly, the new SEAT Mii electric did not make any splash yet.

Both have the usual charts.
 
Both GCC:
US plug-in electric vehicle sales decline in 2019 due to softer PHEV sales; ~2% of market
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/03/20200310-fotw.html


Following a year of rapid growth in 2018, in which sales nearly doubled from the previous year, sales of plug-in electric vehicles in the US declined in 2019, due to lower sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Sales of all-electric vehicles remained steady with a slight increase of about 3,000 more vehicles sold than in 2018. Total plug-in vehicle sales in 2019 were nearly 326,000, or almost 2% of the nearly 17 million vehicles sold that year. . . .



JATO: electrified vehicles 13% of new car reg in Europe in January 2020; electrified vehicles only growth-driver
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/03/20200310-jato.html


After a large increase of new vehicle registrations in Europe in December 2019, volumes for January decreased, marking another month of transition for the complex new car market. A total of 1,138,057 new passenger cars were registered in Europe in January 2020, representing a decline of 7.6% from January 2019, according to JATO Dynamics. This steep reduction was in large part caused by the last-minute purchases made in December, due to the impending introduction of the new CO2 emissions regulation.

However, despite the decrease from December, January registration levels were the 4th highest for the month for any year in the last decade. EVs were the lifeline. . . .

Electrified vehicles provided the only driver of growth for the market in January. They posted a record in volume and market share due to increasing incentives for consumers, greater awareness about the benefits of electrified vehicles, and the growing concern about diesel and gasoline cars, JATO said.

During the first month of 2020, total electrified vehicle registrations increased by a huge 72%, jumping from 87,100 units posted in January 2019 to 150,100 units in the same month of 2020. This is a market share of 13.3% compared to just 7.1% in the year prior. . . .
 
IEVS:
California: Tesla Model 3 Was The Best Selling Car In Q1 2020


https://insideevs.com/news/426084/california-tesla-model-3-best-selling-q12020/


According to the California New Car Dealers Association, the overall market was 507,646 (down 4.3% year-over-year from 530,402) and the forecast for 2020 is quite depressing - 1.54 million vehicles. . . .

Four all-electric cars were in the forefront of their scategories and two of them were #1:

Tesla Model 3 (18,856, up 19.3%): #1 in Near Luxury (52.2% share)

Tesla Model X (2,826, up 10.9%): #3 in Luxury Mid Size SUV (10.3% share)

Chevrolet Bolt EV (2,654, up 16.1%): #1 in Subcompact (22.2% share)

Tesla Model S (1,561, down 27.0%): #3 in Luxury and High End Sports Cars (11.7% share). . . .

The first quarter of 2020 positively surprised us with the first place among all types of cars, not only passenger but also SUV/trucks, for the all-electric Tesla Model 3:

Tesla Model 3 - 18,856
Honda Civic - 18,001
Toyota Camry - 17,871
Toyoa RAV4 - 17,261
Toyota Corolla - 15,575
Honda Accord - 12,551. . . .
 
I guess people got tired of waiting for the Y, or else they just couldn't afford it.

I suspect the only people buying new cars for the next several months will be those at the higher income levels who kept their jobs, so we may well see a shift towards a higher % of
PEVs in a much smaller market.
 
GRA said:
I suspect the only people buying new cars for the next several months will be those at the higher income levels who kept their jobs, so we may well see a shift towards a higher % of
PEVs in a much smaller market.
Yep. More than 40 million in the US have filed for unemployment since COVID-19 lockdowns/social distancing measures and US unemployment rate when finally updated again is likely ~20%. For those who don't have context about the 40 million, see graph at https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/28/weekly-jobless-claims.html.

Those who are unemployed or in danger of losing their jobs will likely not buy any vehicle unless it's absolutely necessary. And, if they do, they might go for something cheap/cheaper.
 
I suspect the only people buying new cars for the next several months will be those at the higher income levels who kept their jobs, so we may well see a shift towards a higher % of
PEVs in a much smaller market.

You are overlooking the vast retired segment of the population. Those with good pensions are still in good shape. I make less than $35k but I'm looking for an ePlus. Many others will be looking for whatever size and type car they would have sought before the pandemic - maybe a little less expensive, but probably not more.
 
I'm not overlooking them, and I doubt cwerdna is either. I expect they'll be cautious about unnecessary purchases, given economic uncertainty and the higher than average possibility of them getting seriously ill from Covid-19.
 
GCC:
Market share of plug-in vehicles in China has more than quadrupled from 2015 to 2019


https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/06/20200602-fotw.html


From 2015 to 2019, the market share of plug-in vehicles in China more than quadrupled, reaching 5.1% in 2019, according to figures presented by the US DOE.

During that same period, Europe saw its plug-in vehicle sales share reach 3.0%. In the US, plug-in vehicle market share in the United States rose from 0.7% to 2.1% in 2018, and then dropped to 1.9% in 2019. . . .
 
GCC:
JATO Dynamics: 17% of new passenger car registrations in Europe in April were electrified


https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/06/20200604-jato.html


As expected, new car registrations in Europe faced a steady decline in April. Volume fell from 1.34 million units in April 2019 to 292,600 vehicles in April 2020, according to JATO Dynamics. This represents the lowest monthly level since the 1970s, and the worst result among the big three markets: China, USA-Canada, and Europe. . . .

As quarantine was not enforced across all countries, registrations fell at different times and different levels. For instance, in Scandinavia, citizens were granted more freedom of movement, thus registrations fell by 37%, the lowest decrease. In contrast, four of the top five markets saw significant declines following strict lockdown restrictions. Combined registrations in Italy, the UK, Spain and France tumbled from 646,000 units in April 2019 to 34,000 one year later.

EVs: the new safe haven. However, not every aspect of the automotive industry saw a downturn in April. Despite the all-encompassing lockdown that took hold in Q1 and the negative economic indicators, electrified vehicles continued to gain traction. Electrified vehicle registrations totalled 50,400 units, making up 17% of total market share.

Demand fell by 46% compared to April 2019 but it was mostly due to the hybrid cars, which saw a decline of 66% to 18,900 units. Pure electric cars registered a decrease of 29% to 16,700 vehicles, while plug-in hybrids saw almost 14,000 new clients, up by 7%.

Registrations of Volkswagen’s, Volvo’s, Audi’s and Ford’s EVs posted double-digit growth. They were able to gain traction arising from the Volkswagen Passat PHEV (981 units), Up BEV (678 units), Volvo V60 PHEV (897), XC40 PHEV (339 units); Audi E-Tron (1,289 units), A3 PHEV (465); and Ford Puma HEV (1,170 units), Kuga PHEV (753). Other key models such as the Tesla Model 3, Renault Zoe and Nissan Lead registered declines of 37%, 47% and 56% respectively. . . .
 
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