UK H1 2016 (Top 10)

Premiums on the Attack Edition

Over 18.000 plug-ins were sold in the first Quarter of the year in the UK, up 30% YoY, down from the three digits growth rates of last year, but still firmly in positive territory and allowing the EV Share to climb to around 1.3%.

Looking at the models ranking, Britain's most popular plug-ins, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and Nissan Leaf, which in 2015 owned two thirds of the market, have lost momentum, if the Mitsubishi SUV still holds the leadership, despite a 24% sales drop, the Leaf not only lost the Second position to the Mercedes C350e, but is now seeing its Third Spot endangered by another Premium offering, the BMW 330e, that has jumped five places in three months, it will be a question of time until the Bimmer reaches the last place of the podium.

It wouldn't be surprising if, in a few months from now, the monthly leadership becomes an exclusive race between the Mercedes and BMW midsize offerings.

Despite dropping one position, the Tesla Model S saw their deliveries grow three fold, all while in the B-Segment/subcompact class, the Renault Zoe continues ahead of the BMW i3, but probably not for long, when the 33kWh version of the German hot hatch arrives, it will probably go on Hyperdrive mode and surpass not only the French product, but also a couple more in front of it.

In the manufacturers ranking, Mitsubishi is still ahead of the pack, with 27% share, but it is followed by the increasingly menacing BMW (17%) and Mercedes (16%).

A final reference for the seven Toyota Mirai registered, a car that sits beautifully the British landscape in places like Hull-upon-Haven.

Pl	UK	H1 '16	% '16	H1'15	Pos. '15
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	5.145	27	6.793	1
2	Mercedes C350e	2.768	15	N/A	N/A
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10	Nissan Leaf BMW 330e Tesla Model S Volkswagen Golf GTE Renault Zoe BMW i3 Volvo XC90 T8 Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia	1.620 1.465 1.291 1.261 1.041 891 773 421	9 8 7 7 6 5 4 2	2.982 N/A 349 350 706 950 N/A 309	2 N/A 8 5 4 3 N/A 9

Source: RAC

Looking for EV's - Oslo, Norway

Having spent these last days in Oslo, i can assert that this is the place where the title of this tag of articles makes less sense, because EV's were...Everywhere.

Specialists have crowned Oslo as the EV Capital of the World, and rightly so, because the typical Tron-like zoom is already part of the sound-landscape of the city, sure, the diesel-clattering is more common still, but it was also relatively easy to find lines of two or three electric cars on the road.

But first things first, before getting to Oslo, one must leave the airport and travel between the local airport and the city itself, it is a 20 to 30 minutes trip on the highway, where one can see a major difference between the first kilometers, where electric cars were rarer and composed mainly by Tesla Model S, Nissan Leaf and VW e-Golf, and the final kilometers, closer to the urban toll, where EV's are not only more common and diverse, but you start to see the I-Miev triplets, among other small cars. 

There i realized my first Oslo lesson...

Lesson Number One - Many drivers drive EV to avoid Urban Toll.

At 660.000 inhabitants, Oslo is not one of that large Metropolis with high rises and congested streets, here the vibe is more relaxed and the large amount of regular hybrids (More popular than plug-ins) and EV's zooming around just add to that feeling.

Plug-in owners might start to stress when they want to park and charge at the same time, while there are parking lots with multiple charging plugs, like the one pictured above, the city downtown hasn't got that many side way charging, and the places that had them, were always full.

This is probably an impossible equation to solve, but the city center, which was the only place where there was high vehicle density and stop-and-go traffic, there is little possibility to charge there.

Lesson Number Two - Charging is more needed where there is more traffic density. 

Lesson Number Two B - Utility companies have a good opportunity here, paid charging at city centers are a guarantee of high rotation and continuous revenue.

But for drivers that don't mind walking a few minutes, just outside the city center there are a number of parking lots with EVSE, with the most interesting of them being the one pictured above, close to the City Harbour, which has some 20 to 30 charging spots to charge, with the most interesting bit being the fact that ICE vehicles are not allowed to go into this parking lot.

At the time of the visit, in the middle of the afternoon, the parking was half full, which meant some 10/15 EV's charging at once in the same place and no gas car in sight...

Never like then i felt the EV future so close.

Belgium August 2016

Running Hot 

August is usually a slow selling month in Belgium, as locals enjoy the Summer time, but this time, plug-in sales were hot, with 726 units, up 151%(!), with the EV Share up to 1.6%.

As usual, AWD vehicles continue to top the ranking, with all Top 5 places in August belonging to such vehicles: The BMW X5 PHEV (78 units) this time was the Monthly Best-Seller, followed by another Bimmer, the 225xe Act. Tourer (65), while the Volvo XC90 T8 (58) ended in Third and the Tesla Model S and Porsche Cayenne PHEV (56) were tied in #5. With this kind of company, the BMW MPV almost looks like a Working-class-hero...

Looking at the YTD ranking, no surprises in the top positions, we have to go down to the Seventh Place to see some changes, with the BMW 330e (53 units, pb) rising two positions to #7, while at the same time managing to surpass its arch-rival Mercedes C350e and become the best selling plug-in of the D-segment/midsize class.

Speaking of midsize cars, last year winner, the Volvo V60 Plug-in, that was somewhere lost in combat, jumped five positions to #15, thanks to a surprising 39 units, it's best result since last November.

Underlining the never-ending appetite of this market for SUV's, the two models with highest rises in the ranking are two recent additions to that class: The Audi Q7 e-Tron rose one position to #26, while the Mercedes GLC350e did even better, jumping three positions to #23.

Two new (And expensive) models have arrived with a bang, the Tesla Model X reached Belgian shores with an impressive 27 units score, the best debut month ever by a model in Belgium, while the BMW 740e also landed with a surprising 18 units, in unrelated news, its Mercedes S500e rival registered 4 units, its worst performance in a year...

In the manufacturers ranking, leader BMW (29%, up 1%) continues to increase share, while Volvo (20%, down 1%) is continuously dropping share. Thankfully for the Swede, the Third Placed Porsche (11%) and #4 Mercedes (10%) are still far.

Looking at the BEV/PHEV breakdown, Belgium is starting to look more and more like the Netherlands in past years, plug-in hybrids have increased their share to 74%, up 21%(!) regarding last year. 

As for FCEV's, in 2016 there were registered 10 units, nine of them being Mirai(?!?), a 150% growth rate regarding 2015, when there were registered a grand total of...4 units.

Pl	Belgium	Aug.	YTD	%	'15Pl
1	Volvo XC90 T8	58	1.164	19	13
2	BMW X5 40e	78	829	14	15
3 4	Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Tesla Model S	56 56	590 457	10 7	2 1
5	Nissan Leaf	20	371	6	8
6	BMW 225xe Active Tourer	65	333	5	N/A
7	BMW 330e	53	252	4	N/A
8	BMW i3 *	32	247	4	3
9	Mercedes C350e	13	221	4	16
10	Mercedes GLE500e	15	194	3	27
11	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	15	158	3	6
12 13 14 15 16	Renault Zoe Volkswagen Passat GTE Audi A3 e-Tron Volvo V60 Plug-In BMW i8	17 32 3 39 11	153 143 99 89 84	3 2 2 1 1	18 33 7 4 9
17 17 19 20	Volkswagen Golf GTE Mercedes B250e Mercedes S500e Mercedes GLC350e	4 9 4 20	73 73 66 59	1 1 1 1	5 11 14 N/A
20 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 32 34 35 35	Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia ** Porsche Panamera Plug-In Renault Twizy Toyota Prius Plug-In Renault Kangoo ZE  Audi Q7 e-Tron Volkswagen e-Golf Tesla Model X Kia Soul EV BMW 740e Peugeot iOn Citroen C-Zero Volkswagen e-Up! Citröen e-Mehari Citroen Berlingo EV Smart Fortwo ED Others	10 3 4 17 13 19 1 27 4 18 3 1 3 1 1 1	59 55 50 46 43 39 32 27 23 18 14 13 13 7 6 6 7	1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	21 10 15 25 N/A N/A 17 N/A 23 N/A 20 24 21 N/A N/A 19
	TOTAL	726	6.113	100

Source: FEBIAC

* - 18 Bev + 14 Rex
** - 1 Pass + 9 LCV

Plug-Ins Versus Regular Hybrids

Pl	Model	Aug. 2016
1	Toyota RAV4 Hybrid	174
2	Toyota Auris Hybrid	165
3	Toyota Yaris Hybrid	137
4	Toyota Prius	94
5	BMW X5 40e	78

If we combine August regular hybrid sales with plug-ins, the Toyota Hybrids have the top positions all to themselves, with its compact SUV (The trend du jour) RAV4 ending in #1, followed by the Auris and the smaller Yaris.

Even the Toyota Prius managed to reach #4, with 94 units, it seems that locals have already digested the interesting looks of the former poster child of Green Mobility.
The best selling plug-in was only Fifth, with the BMW X5 PHEV collecting 78 units.

Germany August 2016

  

German Incentives, Month 2 - 

After completing the second month of incentives, registrations were finally up to 1.823 units, a 26% YoY rise.

With this result, the EV Share climbed a little to 0.64%, although it is still below the 0.75% registered last year.

But looking at the August models ranking, one wonders if the best selling models were influenced by the incentives, after all, the leader BMW i3 sales uptick has more to do with the new 33kWh battery release, the Renault Zoe has been a consistent best seller throughout the year and the Tesla Model S does not benefit from incentives.

The only exception seems to be the Renault Twizy, now back at three-digit sales for the first time in two years, can anybody assert that Quadricycles are also eligible to incentives?

Pl	Model	Sales
1	BMW i3	280
2	Renault Zoe	256
3	Mit. Outlander PHEV	157
4	Tesla Model S	140
5	Renault Twizy	109

The YTD German EV ranking is known for constant changes and surprising performances, last month was no exception:

- The Tesla Model S climbed to #3, its highest ranking ever, thanks to 140 units, its best mid-quarter performance ever, does this means that the Californian is finally gaining traction?

- The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV also climbed one position, in this case to #7, and is now trying to beat Volkswagen Group models ahead in the race for Best Selling PHEV;

- The aforementioned Renault Twizy jumped to #10, it seems Germany is back to its 2012/13 romance with the tiny French vehicle;

- At the bottom of the ranking, there is a new model shining, the BMW 740e registered 47 units last month and is just 76 units behind its class leader Mercedes S500e, so it won't be a surprise if the BMW product reaches soon the throne in the F-segment/Full-size class.  

The manufacturers ranking is the epitome of a balanced market, with the top three brands all at 17% share and only 59 units separating the First (Volkswagen - 2.518 units) from the Third (Renault - 2.459), with BMW in Second, one(!) unit ahead of the French brand, with 2.460 units.

Pl	Germany	Aug.	YTD	%	'15 Pl
1 2	Renault Zoe BMW i3 *	256 280	1.836 1.237	13 9	6 2
3	Tesla Model S	140	978	7	7
4 5	Audi A3 e-Tron Volkswagen Golf GTE	41 39	908 852	6 6	5 4
6	Volkswagen Passat GTE	43	809	6	9
7	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV	157	800	6	3
8	Nissan Leaf	44	733	5	10
9 10 11	Volkswagen e-Golf Renault Twizy  BMW 225xe Active Tourer	54 109 68	548 518 509	4 4 4	8 15 20
12 13	Volvo XC90 T8  Mercedes C350e   e)	32 45	486 479	3 3	28 13
14	Kia Soul EV	101	439	3	1
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 30 32 33 34 35	Audi Q7 e-Tron Volkswagen e-Up! Mercedes B250e BMW 330e Porsche Cayenne Plug-In BMW X5 40e Mercedes GLE500e BMW i8 Mercedes S500e   e) Volvo V60 Plug-In Renault Kangoo ZE e) Nissan e-NV200 / Evalia Porsche Panamera PHEV Mercedes GLC350e BMW 740e Citroen C-Zero Smart Fortwo ED Peugeot iOn Tesla Model X Citroen Berlingo EV e) Peugeot Partner EV Others	32 4 42 25 36 9 6 12 15 30 10 21 4 25 47 17 4 6 31 5 33	435 307 261 245 226 209 187 179 157 154 105 103 94 82 81 72 71 61 60 40 25 123	3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0  0 1	24 12 14 32 17 22 29 16 19 18 N/A 25 23 N/A N/A 36 11 36 N/A 33 33
	TOTAL	1.823	14.408	100

* - 147 Bev + 133 Rex

e) Estimate

Source: kba.de

China Buses Overview (Through 2010 to 2015)

A lot has been said about the ADL/BYD delivery of 51 Electric Buses in London, said to be the largest fleet in Europe, or the famed BYD buses plant in Lancaster - California, said to have a production target of 1.000 units/year, although these are positive signs that things are moving in the right direction, these numbers are dwarfed by what's going on in China...

Remember a certain article where this topic was scratched at the surface? Even then the numbers seemed huge, didn't they? 

Now, with some more detailed data, i can document the extraordinary and almost unbelievable growth that electric Buses registrations are experiencing in China:

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
BEV	523	1136	1904	1672	12760	94260
PHEV		1478	313	2637	16500	23051
HEV	3804	2825	5825	6111	797

It's hard to believe on these staggering numbers, isn't it?

And harder still when you read this little piece of info...

Anyway, assuming the numbers are real, it is even more outlandish the fact that BYD, that many believe to be the Master on Electric Buses, was actually only the Sixth Largest (5.631 units) plug-in Bus maker in China, behind Yutong (15.369), Nanjing KL (9.012), Zhongtong (8.904), Suchao KL (7.115) and Dongfeng (5.761) and there are at least 15 Chinese Electric Bus makers, all having sold above 100 units in 2015. 

If anyone wishes to confirm or rebate these arguments, please do so, as it would help a lot to have a better picture of what's going on here.

Off-topic: And to think Volvo, the largest plug-in Bus maker in Europe, has yet to reach the 1.000 units production mark... 

France August 2016

It's "Aller a la Plage" Time

 (Not So) Slow Season

The French EV market had 1.658 registrations last month, a 43% improvement YoY, a positive result in August, typically one of the slowest selling months in France, due to the holiday season.

The EV Share is stable at 1.67%, a significant departure from the 1.41% of 2015.

Looking at the monthly models ranking, there weren't big surprises, apart from the fact that we have an almost 100% BEV Top 5, something increasingly harder to find in the European markets.

The Zoe continues to lead the way (as in the last 23 24 months...), followed this time by the Nissan Leaf (196 units), which displaced the Renault Kangoo ZE (188) to Third, with the Peugeot iOn reaching #4 and the BMW i3 in #5. 

Pl	Model	Sales
1	Renault Zoe	386
2	Nissan Leaf	196
3	Renault Kangoo ZE	188
4	Peugeot iOn	100
4	BMW i3	99

France is known for being a stable market, with little changes in the ranking, and August confirms this, one has to go down to #8, with the Kia Soul surpassing the Volvo XC90 T8, but despite the one position drop, Volvo's Knarr SUV has the Rookie Of The Year award waiting for it. 

Reversing what happened last month, the Citröen C-Zero surpassed its surfing-beach-loving e-Mehari brethren and regained the #13 place, with colder weather approaching, expect the small urban car to retain its lead over the convertible.

Different fortunes for the two high end SUV's from VAG: While the Porsche Cayenne Plug-In drops two places to #19 (Only 20 sales, worst performance in 17 months), the Audi Q7 e-Tron continues to impress, with 55 units registered in August, it was the best selling plug-in hybrid last month and jumped six positions to #28.  

Looking at the brands ranking, Renault (#1 since 2011) continues to be the Master In Command, with 43% share, followed at a distance by Nissan (14%) and BMW (9%).

Pl	France	Aug.	2016	%	'15Pl
1	Renault Zoe	386	7.481	34	1
2	Nissan Leaf	196	2.825	13	3
3	Renault Kangoo ZE	188	1.663	7	2
4	BMW i3 *	99	870	4	8
5	Peugeot iOn	100	829	4	9
6	Volkswagen Golf GTE	31	746	3	4
7	Bolloré Blue Car	57	675	3	5
8	Kia Soul EV	78	629	3	13
9 10	Volvo XC90 T8 Audi A3 e-Tron	17 22	569 494	3 2	N/A 6
11 12	Tesla Model S BMW X5 40e	31 29	485 452	2 2	10 20
13	Citröen C-Zero	40	449	2	15
14	Citröen e-Mehari	29	440	2	N/A
15	Renault Twizy	30	325	1	11
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 31 33 34 35	BMW 225xe Active Tourer Goupil Nissan e-NV200/Evalia ** Porsche Cayenne PHEV Peugeot Partner EV e) Volkswagen Passat GTE BMW 330e Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Bolloré Blue Summer e) Mercedes C350e Volkswagen e-Up! Citröen Berlingo EV Audi Q7 e-Tron  Volkswagen e-Golf Mitsubishi I-Miev Mercedes GLE500e Volvo V60 Plug-In BMW i8 Mercedes B250e Toyota Prius Plug-In Others	40 15 36 20 10 34 18 8 10 17 9 17 55 5 8 6 2 3 1 1 10	324 302 301 299 281 231 210 195 183 171 124 107 96 73 69 62 61 59 47 36 74	1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	N/A 14 16 12 21 19 N/A 7 N/A 27 18 23 N/A 22 30 31 26 25 24 28
	TOTAL	1.658	22.237

* - 34 Bev + 65 Rex

** - 6 Pass + 30 LCV

Sources: Avere France