Electric Vehicle Sales Up 70% In Europe

Electric Vehicle Sales Up 70% In Europe (CleanTechnica)

• European sales numbers of fully electric vehicles (BEVs) increased 70% yoy to c. 24,000 deliveries in April.
• Diesel sales continued their downward momentum by falling 12% yoy. The month’s top five best-selling EV models included the Renault Zoe (overtaking Tesla’s Model 3), Tesla’s Model 3, the BMW i3, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, and the Nissan Leaf.
• Excluding the recently added Tesla Model 3 and the Nissan Leaf, sales of the remaining top 5 sellers all had +50% growth rates.

Analysis & Comments

• Lots of moving parts in the sales data to the end of April
• From a Tesla perspective, the main news is that after the big boost earlier in the year (as the first deliveries started to clear the order backlog), Model 3 sales look to have settled at around 3,700 per month (or 3,738 in April to be exact). The top 3 European markets remain Norway, Germany & the Netherlands.
• Tesla remains the No 1 seller ytd, but for April the evergreen Renault Zoe is back on top. With the new Nissan leaf (62kWh version) due soon, it is expected that the European 2018 best seller should move up the rankings from its surprising 5th place in April.
• Further down the Mitsubishi Outlander (No 4 best seller ytd) is the top PHEV – selling well in Germany & the UK.
• What is most interesting from an EV adoption perspective is that unlike in the US, the success of the Tesla Model 3 does not seem to be harming other EV models, suggesting this remains a growth rather than substitute market.