EV sales surpass diesel for the first time ever

The sale of electric vehicles (EVs) in Europe has surpassed diesel car sales for the first time, highlighting the growing popularity of these electric engines.

The West European all-electric registrations surpassed diesel models for the first time during December 2021, according to the European Electric Car Monthly Study compiled by Schmidt Automotive Research.

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The New York Times reports more than 20 percent of new cars sold in December in Europe and Britain were powered solely by electricity.

The data also showed that in December every fifth new car registered in Western Europe was a zero-emission EV.

More than one million EVs were sold in Western Europe alone last year. According to provisional Schmidt Automotive Research data, 11.2 percent of all new cars in the 18 market region were pure electric EVs, compared with 6.7 percent in 2020.

Between October and December last year, there was more than 400,000 EV units on the region’s roads, equivalent to 17 percent of the total new passenger car market. In the year prior, there was 320,000.

Matthias Schmidt, automotive industry market analyst and founder of Schmidt Automotive Research said, “With more than every tenth new passenger car arriving on West European roads being a pure electric vehicle in 2021, 2020 was almost half that rate at 6.4 percent."

“This appeared impressive at the time, given the CO2 boost in December last year — it is worth adding some perspective, given the EV booster year we just witnessed, was in a total passenger car market that recorded its worst year for almost 40 years,” he said.

In a normal average 14.2 million passenger car market year that same volume of EVs would have equated to just 8.4 percent mix of the market, Schmidt said.

“This gives perhaps some indication to how the market would have looked in a 'normal' non-pandemic year, where the word 'semiconductor' would have remained in the lexicon of just a handful of experts,” he said.

For 2022, Schmidt Automotive predicts a further growth in EV with an increase of 350,000 units on the road. This is mostly due to the opening of Tesla’s German production facility and a total market returning in the second half requiring more EVs to meet CO2 targets that see the final year of certain incentive mechanisms.

Another report said by 2025, it is expected that battery electric vehicles will become the most demanded engine across Europe from 2025.