For a long time it seemed as if China and the USA had left Europe and Germany behind in terms of electromobility. But new market figures now indicate the opposite.
In the past few years, economic experts have repeatedly warned that Germany and its auto industry could lose touch with global e-mobility. But if you take a look at more recent market figures, the opposite impression emerges. As the Automotive Electrification Index 2020 published by the management consultancy AlixPartners shows, Germany and Europe caught up a lot last year and in some cases even overtook them.
Across all markets, the market share of electric cars has increased significantly compared to 2019. While only 2019 percent of all cars sold worldwide were electric cars in the fourth quarter of 2,7, their share rose to 2020 percent in the fourth quarter of 5,8. Europe, traditionally the third largest car market in the world, replaced China as the largest sales market for electric vehicles for the first time in 2020, with 1,4 million e-cars sold. In the Middle Kingdom, only 1,3 million new electric cars hit the streets last year. North America is far behind with 0,4 million units.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, VW also succeeded for the first time in overtaking Tesla in terms of global sales of electric cars. Including their plug-in hybrids, the Wolfsburg-based company sold around 192.000 e-cars between October and December. According to the data service provider Statista, there were only 180.667 units at Tesla in the same period, but for the US group this is still the strongest quarter in its relatively young history.