The number of new registered passenger vehicles in Europe fell by 7.6% in January 2020. The drop is partly due to a sharp increase in the number of sales in December in view of new regulations on CO2 emissions that took effect at the beginning of this year. 13% of new registered vehicles are electric.
This is according to figures from JATO Dynamics. Sales of both diesel and petrol cars fell in January 2020. At the same time, sales of electric vehicles actually rose sharply by 72% compared to the same period a year earlier. A total of 150,100 new electric vehicles were registered in Europe in January 2020. In January 2019, there were 87,100.
Both more hybrid and fully electric cars
Zooming in on the electric segment shows that sales of all types of electric vehicles increased. For instance, the number of registered hybrid passenger vehicles rose by 36%, while the number of plug-in hybrid cars increased by 173%. The number of newly registered electric vehicles increased by 91%.
"Europe demonstrates that a broad embrace of electric vehicles is increasingly feasible, and likely to become a reality once the vehicles become affordable," explains Felipe Munoz, analyst at JATO Dynamics.
Average CO2 emissions increased
Recently, other figures from JATO showed that the average CO2 emissions of new vehicles in Europe actually increased in 2019. Whereas in 2018 the average emissions were 120.5 grams of CO2 per kilometre, in 2019 this rose to 121.8 grams of CO2.
The increase is part of a turnaround that has been underway for some time. For instance, the average CO2 emissions of passenger vehicles in Europe fell from 159.1 grams per kilometre to 117.8 grams per kilometre between 2007 and 2016. In 2017, an upward trend started and emissions rose to 118.1 grams of CO2 per kilometre. This negative trend continued in 2018 and is thus also visible in 2019.
Several factors contributing
The increase is due to several factors. On the one hand, it involves declining sales of diesel cars, with consumers opting more often for petrol cars. These vehicles emit more CO2 per kilometre on average than diesel variants due to their higher consumption. At the same time, sales of SUVs have increased, which due to their form factor have higher consumption than similarly powered vehicles with other body shapes.
Incidentally, the Netherlands is doing remarkably well. For instance, average CO2 emissions per kilometre in the Netherlands fell from 106 grams per kilometre in 2018 to 100.1 grams per kilometre in 2019. This is a decrease of 5.9%. The Netherlands leads in terms of average emissions. France is in second position with average emissions of 111.1 grams of CO2 per kilometre. Ireland is in third place at 113.7 grams per kilometre. Poland performs worst with an average of 131.4 grams of CO2 per kilometre.
France is largest sales market within EU
When looking at absolute sales figures, France is the largest market for electric vehicles within the European Union (EU); almost 19% of all units cross the counter in this country. That it can do even better shows Norway, which is not a member of the EU but is a member of the European Free Trade Association. In Norway, 77% of all newly registered vehicles were electric. Other Nordic countries are also doing well. In Sweden, the percentage is 38% and in Finland 28%.
JATO Dynamics also looks at sales figures by car manufacturer. Smart is doing remarkably well; 96% of all newly registered Smart cars were electric in January 2020. Lexus and Toyota are also performing well at 95% and 66% respectively. DS (42%), Suzuki (41%) and Land Rover (37%) follow. Brands registering proportionally significantly fewer electric vehicles are Citroen (1.4%), Seat (1.4%), Ford (3.3%), Opel (3.9%), Skoda (4%) and Volkswagen (5%).
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
