TapTechNews August 7th news, in Germany, the sales of pure electric vehicles in July plummeted by 37% year-on-year, setting the largest decline since the government cut subsidies for electric vehicles last December, raising concerns among automakers and suppliers about huge electrification investments.
Data from the German Federal Motor Transport Authority shows that the total number of new passenger car registrations in Germany in July was 238,263, a decrease of 2.1% year-on-year. Among them, 83,405 gasoline vehicles (increased by 0.1%), 79,870 hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles (increased by 18.4%), 43,107 diesel vehicles (increased by 1.4%), 30,762 pure electric vehicles (decreased by 36.8%), 1,078 liquefied petroleum gas vehicles (increased by 8.8%), and only 3 natural gas vehicles (decreased by 98.6%). The share of pure electric vehicles in the German market in July dropped from 20% a year ago to 12.9%.
In addition to the increase in the price of electric vehicles due to the cancellation of subsidies, analysts also attribute this to the shortage of affordable electric vehicles currently on the German market. The slowdown in the sales of electric vehicles naturally forces automakers to reconsider future plans and abandon the idea of quickly phasing out fuel vehicles, which increases the difficulty for them to comply with the strict EU emission regulations.
UBS analyst Patrick Hummel said that due to the weak demand for electric vehicles, Volkswagen's profit next year may be reduced by 2 billion euros (TapTechNews note: currently about 15.633 billion yuan). Volkswagen recently announced the postponement of battery production plans and the reduction of the output of electric vehicle factories.
According to Bloomberg, Valeo, a French company, is trying to sell two factories because the capacity utilization rate of these two factories is far lower than its capacity. Another French supplier, Opmobility, disclosed that the production of electric vehicles is about half of what the manufacturer expected. Similarly, LG New Energy, the largest electric vehicle battery supplier in Europe, is considering entering the static energy storage field to survive.
Constantin Gall, a consultant at EY Consulting, commented on the plunge in the sales of electric vehicles in Germany, saying: The rapid growth of electric vehicles currently proves to be unsustainable. The market has lost all momentum, and many consumers express doubts about the prospects of electric vehicles.
In addition to Germany, which is the largest automotive market in Europe, the situation of the slowdown in the demand for electric vehicles has also occurred in other European countries. The number of electric vehicle registrations in Sweden, regarded as the leader of electric vehicles in Europe, also dropped significantly by 15% in July. Similarly, the sales of electric vehicles in another strong zero-emission vehicle market, Switzerland, also decreased by 19%.