1,311 new so-called plug-in cars - passenger vehicles that are charged using a plug - appeared on Dutch roads in May. This is 123% more compared to the same period in 2017. 88% of plug-in cars registered in May are fully electric vehicles (FEV).
This is according to figures from CleanTechnica. The best-selling plug-in car in May was the Nissan Leaf, of which 264 new units were registered. Tesla is also doing well and is in the top 3 with two models. The Tesla Model S takes second place with 254 registered units, while the Tesla Model X is in third place with 173 units. The top 5 further consists of the Volkswagen e-Golf (119 units) and BMW i3 (85 units).
Good month for Tesla
CleanTechnica points out that Tesla, among others, is performing well with this; both of the company's models were registered in the Netherlands in May more often than ever before. According to the website, this reinforces the theory that Tesla is targeting export markets, including the Netherlands, to a significant extent in the second quarter of 2018. Tesla is presumably doing this in an attempt to slow Tesla sales in the United States (US), aiming to reach the milestone of 200,000 units only in July instead of June. This is significant for the company, as US customers currently get $7,500 tax benefit on the purchase of a Tesla. This benefit will be phased out once the company has sold more than 200,000 models in the US.
Looking at the first five months of 2018, the top five look different. In this overview, Tesla leads with the Tesla Model S; a total of 1,113 units of this vehicle were registered in the Netherlands in 2018. The Volkswagen e-Golf is in second place with 1,036 units, followed by the Nissan Leaf (991 units), Hyundai Ioniq Electric (696 units) and the Tesla Model X (570 units).
Number of FEVs growing faster and faster
The picture shown by CleanTechnica's figures is in line with recent figures from CBS. These showed that the number of fully electric passenger cars in the Netherlands rose by almost 60% in one year. This segment is thus growing significantly faster than plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), whose number of units on Dutch roads rose by 1.6% in 2017. A trend that has been visible for some time is thus continuing: the growth in the number of PHEVs in the Netherlands is levelling off, while the number of FEVs is growing faster and faster.
Apart from PHEVs, regular hybrid vehicles are also available, typically equipped with systems that recover energy during braking, among other things. These vehicles are still sold more than PHEVs. When regular hybrid vehicles are added to the top five electric vehicles registered in the Netherlands in May, the first three positions are occupied by regular hybrids. The Toyota Yaris Hybrid is in first position with 678 registered, followed by the Kia Niro HEV with 517 registered vehicles. The Toyota C-HR Hybrid is in third position (433 units), followed by the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S with 264 and 254 units respectively.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: CleanTechnica
Source: CBS
Source photo: Pixabay IADE-Michoko
