EV Sales Plunge in Europe As the Public Say No Thank You, Jeremy Clarkson Agrees

EV sales have plunged in Europe by almost 44% as the buying public turn their backs on EVs prompting Euro Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) to demand urgent action to stem further decline and thus losses.

Across Europe and the UK there are strict targets for the number of EVs that each manufacturer must sell but these targets are proving to be farcical as the public say nein, non, nee, nyet and no to the models on offer. 

Failure to hit these targets will result in massive fines for the manufacturers. Frankly, I have massive sympathy for the OEMs as they have been forced by big government to tell the public what they want, and in marketing that is rarely a good idea.

Range anxiety, charger anxiety, massive depreciation, elevated running costs, and higher insurance are some of the issues that have dampened demand and caused roughly 50% of all early EV adopters to regret their decisions and change back to Internal Combustion Engines (ICE). 

True cars sales across the Euro zone are down overall, more than 18% and at their lowest level for about four years, largely due to double digit losses in Germany, France, and Italy but also due to an European wide crash in EV sales.

Sales of EVs slumped by 43.9% as the biggest EV marketa, Germany and France recorded falls of 68.8% and 31.1% respectively. Registration of Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) were also hit with a fall of 22.3%.

At the same time, sales at Tesla are down by 43% and at SAIC, the Shanghai based EV behemoth, the sales have fallen some 27.5% as trade tariffs and withdrawal of subsidies make the prospect of owning an EV less attractive.

Perhaps though the best summary of why people are not buying EVs came from Jeremy Clarkson, yes him of Top Gear and Grand Tour fame, when talking about why the team are quitting the car show game. Mr Clarkson is quoted as being wanting to create interesting television shows and he expounded on the problem that:

“An electric car is no different from a chest freezer or a microwave oven. There’s no glamour or excitement. This week on Top Chest Freezer! I think it suits the written media more.”

It may also be that he is too old and fat to go camping for a week in Zimbabwe these days but like him I personally find it really difficult to get my juices flowing when it comes to EVs there is just NO romance, no soundtrack!