One-in-ten new cars in Western Europe were electric in 2021

The European car market has surged past expectations in 2021, with millions of new low and zero-carbon vehicles registered across Western Europe, according to the latest Schmidt Automotive Research report.

One in five new vehicles registered in Western Europe this year had plug-in capabilities, marking a boom despite the ongoing chip shortage. Driven by initiatives into decarbonising transport, every tenth new car registered across Western Europe was a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) and the market saw an 80% year-on-year increase, despite the delays caused by the semiconductor shortage.

The report also found that plug-in-hybrid vehicles also encounter a demand boom, with 20% of all new registers in the region – roughly 1.94 million units – featuring plugin technology.

Germany was the largest single market for new electric vehicles, accounting for 31% of all sales, more than double the next highest market, the UK with 13.9%.

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The graph above illustrates the increases in BEV car registrations since 2012.

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The graph above illustrates the increases in electric passenger bar mix since 2012.

A number of key automakers in the region, such as Volkswagen and its subsidiaries, Ford, Rolls-Royce, and more recently Nissan, have all started looking into increasing EV production and diversifying their portfolios.

There are also new purely electric car startups looking to drive innovation, such as Lightyear as EU nations continue to mull outright petrol bans in the shift away from fossil fuels.

“Last year was a so-called phase-in year of this target”, according to Matthias Schmidt, the lead analyst at Schmidt Automotive Research, which authored the report.

“The worst 5% highest emitting part of the sales mix could be omitted, and also included various tools such as the highest value of super-credits for zero and low emitting vehicles (ZLEV) with a limited amount of 7.5g/km on offer for the first 3-years of the new target-led phase-in year of this target”.

He suggested a large number of manufacturers used up this allowance in 2020, resulting in more BEVs being pumped out in 2021 in order to meet emissions goals.

2020 was also the first full year of Tesla Model 3 registrations, which joined the market in February 2019. The record estimates Tesla accounted for around 15% of the West European BEV car mix, while creeping up on 2% of the global passenger car market.

The SMMT reports that battery EV registrations doubled in the UK alone in November, but is still continuing to lag behind owing to the semiconductor shortage and the pandemic, while plugin cars represented 28% of all new registrations.

The trade organisation continued to push for increased charging infrastructure quickly before plugin-hybrid supply outstrips demand.

It said this increase is likely due to the increasing availability and diversification of consumer brands as the push towards fossil-free driving continues, but admits the chip shortage will continue to hamper manufacturing for the foreseeable future.

“The continued acceleration of electrified vehicle registrations is good for the industry, the consumer and the environment but, with the pace of public charging infrastructure struggling to keep up, we need swift action and binding public charger targets so that everyone can be part of the electric vehicle revolution, irrespective of where they live”, the group’s CEO Mike Hawes said in a statement.