Key points UPDATED:
15.9% of September's West European new car registrations were BEV
Semiconductor issue could impact plug-in mix positively for the rest of the year
Year to date BEV volumes move ahead ahead of PHEVs
12-month-rolling cumulative BEV trend (Oct '20 - Sep '21) reaches 1.1M units
The monthly share of new zero-emission BEV (Battery electric vehicle) passenger car registrations as a percentage of the total new car market achieved a new high in September. 15.9 per cent of all the new passenger cars entering West European roads during the closing month of the third quarter, were pure electric passenger cars, according to exclusive data published each month in Schmidt Automotive Research’s in-depth monthly European Electric Car Data Trend Report putting them just 2.6 percentage points behind diesel powered cars, with parity expected in the final month of the year.
Just over 140 thousand new pure electric cars entered the 18 market West European region monitored by the report each month.
Despite volumes falling 25 thousand short of the all-time monthly volume high, recorded in December 2020, as passenger car manufacturers made a last-ditch attempt to meet newly phased-in CO2 fleet emission targets, achieving a 15.1 BEV per cent mix of the total market, the September BEV penetration of the 18-market region saw levels surpass that.
A number of reasons impacted the new record in September, namely; the boost from Tesla’s end of quarter volumes, achieving a monthly record of 34,000 units, or every fourth BEV – boosted by both the Model Y introduction and shipments from China – as well as the semiconductor situation deflating the total passenger car market.
More on the semiconductor impact can be read here.
The report, published every month, expects combined BEV and PHEV plug-in volumes to achieve one-in-five new passenger car registrations this year, with BEVs soaking up slightly more of the plug-in volumes than plug-in hybrids despite trailing the duel-motor models for most of this year.
Last year BEVs accounted for 6.7 per cent of the total market, and prior to the new CO2 fleet average limit in 2019, they soaked up just 2.5 per cent of all new passenger car sales.
The European Electric Car Flash Report which is published on a monthly basis covers the entire West European region in a detailed data-driven manner.
May also interest you: Future outlook: Semiconductor crisis accelerates the EV transition... BEVs are now expected to soak up 10.2% (1.132M units) of the total market while with PHEVs added to the equation – a route mostly exploited by premium OEMs click here for the story
*Western Europe 18 Markets: EU Member States prior to the 2004 enlargement plus EFTA markets Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, plus UK