Europe’s electric vehicles (EVs) market share is set to treble this year to 10%, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Kallanish Energy reports.
According to a new analysis by Transport & Environment (T&E), that’s because of the EU 2020/21 car CO2 emission standards. The legislation forces carmakers to meet targets to reduce the average emissions of the cars they sell, or pay fines.
The European clean transport campaign group estimates that the total number of electric cars sold in Europe will double to reach 1 million this year and 1.8 million in 2021.
The EVs market share in Europe is expected to grow to 15% in 2021, which means one in seven cars sold will be either a battery electric vehicle (BEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV).
T&E believes purchase incentives launched in mid-summer in Germany, France and other countries are “undoubtedly continuing the emobility momentum.”
The boom in EV sales has resulted in a significant drop in CO2 emissions, with automakers already reaching or close to reaching their 2020 CO2 targets. In the first-half of the year, new car CO2 emissions in the continent dropped to 111 g/km, from 122 g/km in 2019, T&E said.
The PSA Group, Volvo, FCA-Tesla and BMW have already reached their binding targets; while Renault, Nissan, Toyota-Mazda and Ford are very close to hitting them, T&E said.
Volkswagen and Hyundai-Kia need to improve their EVs sales, but Daimler and Jaguar-Land Rover are the ones farthest away from meeting their targets, according to the analysis.