EVs and PHEVs in Europe: Sales surge in 2nd half of 2020, 26.6% share in Germany in Dec.

All countries offering big incentives for electrified vehicles partly to counter COVID-19 pandemic

2021/02/04

Summary
Sales of ECVs in Germany, France, and the UK surge in the October-December 2020 period.
Increase in ECV sales across the EU: 9.9% ECV share for the July-September 2020 period
Major European countries offer big incentives for ECV purchases
European countries and major cities announced bans on the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles (entry banned)
EU: Proposed to deploy 30 million EVs and 3 million charging facilities by 2030; ACEA opposes proposal

Summary

The VW ID.3, launched in September 2020 at a price of EUR 29,990, will be eligible for incentives in major European countries

This report describes the trends in the sales volume and market share of EVs and PHEVs (hereinafter referred to as ECVs: Electrically-chargeable vehicles) in Europe, the EU's 2021 CO2 regulations behind the trends, measures to support the purchase of ECVs in each country, moves in major countries to ban the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles and to ban their entry into cities, and plans to further strengthen CO2 regulations and accelerate the introduction of EVs in the EU.

In 2020, passenger car sales in the 26 EU countries totaled 9,942,509 units, down 23.7% from the previous year. However, ECV sales and market share surged in the second half of 2020, especially in December, with the ECV market share increasing to 26.6% in Germany, 19.2% in France, and 23.4% in the UK.

As a result, regarding the 2021 CO2 regulation, it was predicted that automakers would have to pay huge penalties in early 2020, but the average CO2 emissions of each company dropped significantly, and OEMs such as Toyota, Daimler, and BMW met their CO2 targets. VW announced that it will pay fines of over EUR 100 million for failing to meet CO2 emission targets by 0.5 g/km.

Major European countries have started to provide high incentives (subsidies) to ECVs, partly to counter the recessionary effects of the COVID-19 crisis, and to stimulate the expansion of ECV sales. France will provide incentives of up to EUR 12,000 per ECV and Germany will provide incentives of up to EUR 9,000.

In addition, since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015, countries have announced policies to ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel vehicles, mainly between 2030 and 2040, and major cities have announced policies to ban these vehicles from entering these urban areas. This trend is also considered to be one of the factors behind the expansion of ECV sales.

The EU's European Commission has announced plans to step up its efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. In September 2019, it announced a proposal to upwardly revise the EU-wide greenhouse gas reduction target for 2030 to a 55% reduction from the previous 40% reduction from 1990 levels. In line with this, a proposal to revise the CO2 reduction target for new passenger cars from the 37.5% reduction from the 2021 baseline levels, which was decided in April 2019, to a 50% reduction is under consideration. In December 2020, the EU also announced plans for the proliferation of 30 million zero-emission vehicles (BEV + FCEV) in Europe by 2030. However, the ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association) argues that it will be difficult to achieve this without strong support from the EU and national governments.

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