FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – Despite the pandemic, Europe’s electric cars are speeding fast.
Carmaker Volkswagen tripled sales of batteries without batteries only in 2020 when its new compact ID.3 hit the market ahead of tough new European Union restrictions on car emissions. And Germany, which has long lagged behind in adopting electric vehicles, saw in December that more people were buying electricity than previously dominant diesel vehicles.
These are early signs of what is likely to be a coming year of increasing market share for electric cars as EU regulations make their adoption, despite the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic that caused the overall car market to shrink.
Volkswagen said on Tuesday that its namesake sold 134,000 battery cars last year, compared to 45,000 in 2019.
Including hybrids, which combine an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, sales of electrified cars reached 212,000, compared to 82,000 in 2019.
Volkswagen’s announcement comes as the German Automobile Industry Association reports that one in four cars sold in the country in December had an electric car, which was used by incentives as part of the government’s stimulus package during the COVID-19 recession.
Battery and hybrid cars accounted for 26.6% of sales that month, ahead of diesel cars, which had 26.2%. It is also a sign of the sharp decline in diesel following Volkswagen’s 2015 scandal with diesel cars cheated on emissions tests.
Electric cars have so far been a small but rapidly growing piece of the European market. According to the European Motor Manufacturers’ Association, in the July-September quarter of 2020, 9.9% of cars sold were loading vehicles, up from 3.0% a year earlier. The association publishes complete statistics on February 4th.
Carmakers in the EU need to sell more cars without zero emissions to meet stricter fleet average limits for the release of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for climate change. These limits came into full effect on 1 January. Failure to achieve a fleet average of less than 95 grams of carbon dioxide per mile driven can result in heavy fines.
The sales were driven by incentives by the government and by an increasing number of new models that – like the ID.3 – were designed purely as electric motors, rather than being converted from combustion models. Only electrical design can mean more interior space than a point of sale. The compact ID.3 does not come to the US market, where Volkswagen will offer the electric ID.4 sports utility vehicles made on the same mechanical basis.
Demand is being held back by the lack of places to charge electric cars, even for people who live in apartment buildings and cannot install a boot at home. The VDA, a car association in Germany, said there is only one charging station for every 17 electric cars.
Tesla, based in California, was a major factor in the electric boom with its Model 3 and its own network of fast charging stations.
The government in China, the world’s largest car market, is also urging carmakers to reduce emissions.
The uptake of electric vehicles was slower in the United States, where regulatory pressure was weaker and where gasoline cost as little as $ 2 per gallon, depending on the region. This is comparable to 1.30 euros per liter of gas, or $ 6 per liter in Germany, which is a lot of tax.
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