Italy Full Year 2012

Renault Zoe Taxi

Italians love small cars, so it's no surprise that the Renault Twizy is the great responsible for the takeoff of EV's there. In 2012 the french quadricycle sold 1.545 units sold, achieving a enormous 66% share of the market, distancing itself from the runner-up, the Kangoo ZE, which sold just at 234 units.

The first passenger vehicles come in third, with the Nissan Leaf posting a record sale of 44 cars in December, enough to reach the third place tied with the Citröen C-Zero at 146 units.

Italy is still a BEV haven, with the best performance from a Plug-In Hybrid being a #6 by the Opel Ampera and just 3% share.

2013 will see the arrival of the Renault Zoe, which impact will help to determine the growth rate of this market.

Italy	Dec	2012	%
Renault Twizy	28	1.545	66
Renault Kangoo ZE		234	10
Nissan Leaf	44	146	6
Citröen C-Zero	7	146	6
Peugeot iOn	4	116	5
Opel Ampera		62	3
Renault Fluence ZE	2	38	2
Smart Fortwo ED	2	37	2
Mitsubishi I-Miev		14	1
Tesla Roadster		7	0
Think City		3	0
TOTAL	87	2.348	100

Source: www.greenstart.it

China Full Year 2012

Roewe E50

Hit has been said that the chinese car market is key to the success of the electric car, not just by the tremendous dimension of it, after all we are talking of a market with a whopping 15 million units sold in 2012, but also because the chinese government is interested in reducing the energy dependency on foreign oil and one way of doing so is betting in plug-in vehicles, but and this is a big but the government is even more interested in protecting the home grown product, so the Nissan Leaf's and Chevrolet Volt's of this world are sold in China like any other import, meaning a high tax on top of a already high price, which makes them pretty rare in China (We are talking dozens in a market of millions).

So, the home makers have the electric car market all to themselves, right?

Right, but the chinese EV market it's not that big. Until November 2012, the only chinese carmaker with plug-in models, BYD, had sold some 2.200 units of e6's and F3 DM's, leaving the chinese market only as the 7th largest in the world, behind smaller countries like Norway and the Netherlands.

But December came and not only the BYD e6 beat its monthly record at 512 cars sold, but the entrrance of a second chinese manufacturer in the market stirred things a bit, with the small Roewe E50 enjoying a great newcomers month with 238 sales, contributing for the chinese EV market to report a record month of 848 units sold and conquering the #3 position in the countries ranking, ahead of France and only behind Japan and the USA.

BYD Qin, to be launched this year

If this performance is repeated in the next months, and with the promised addition of new models it probably will, this could be one of the markets where the electric car growth will be more spectacular.

China	Dec	2012	%
BYD e6	512	1.690	53
BYD F3 DM	98	1.201	38
Rowe E50	238	238	7
Chevrolet Volt		18	1
Nissan Leaf		15	0
Volvo C30 Electric		15	0
TOTAL	848	3.177	100

Source: BSCB; Car News China

Czech Republic Full Year 2012

Speaking of unexpected places, sometimes EV sales come from where you least expect like is the case of Estonia or Israel.

EV sales in the Czech Republic isn't that unexpected, but it isn't also one of the first countries that comes to mind when you think of electric cars, but it has a small one.

With only 98 units sold this year, the EV phenomenon is still in its infancy, but it could grow significantly in the next years, especially if local manufacturer Skoda joins the Plug-In offensive that their VW bosses are planning in the next two to three years. For now, the I-Miev family dominates thanks to their Peugeot and Citröen sisters, respectably #1 and #2 in the ranking.

Czech Rep.	YTD	%
Peugeot iOn	52	53
Citröen C-Zero	26	27
Opel Ampera	9	9
Skoda Octavia EV	10	10
Fisker Karma	1	1
TOTAL	98	100

Source: sda-cia.cz

Spain Full Year 2012

Despite a terrible month of December, when were sold only 40 EV's, the spanish Plug-In market more than tripled, an amazing thing considering the crisis in the country and that the overall market shrunk by 13% regarding last year and it's at the weakest level since at least 1989...

This was a case where the local hero got the #1 spot, the Renault Twizy, made in Valladolid (In the picture there's Prince Felipe of Spain during a visit to the Twizy's factory), won the local crown in its first year on the market with a smashing 57% market share.

If we consider that the Twizy is not really a "car" (And it's not, it's classified as a quadricycle), then the best selling highway capable vehicle is the LCV Kangoo ZE with 176 units, followed closely by the Nissan Leaf with 154 cars, making it the best selling passenger car.

The fact that the best selling passenger car is only #3 on the EV ranking goes to show that the electric car is a market where sales can come from unexpected places.

Spain	Dec	YTD	%
Renault Twizy	13	943	57
Renault Kangoo ZE	7	176	11
Nissan Leaf	2	154	9
Renault Fluence ZE		77	5
Peugeot iOn	1	73	4
Citröen C-Zero	1	58	3
Toyota Prius Plug-In	8	58	3
Opel Ampera		33	2
Mitsubishi I-Miev	8	31	2
Think City		30	2
Chevrolet Volt		14	1
Mercedes A E-Cell		6	0
Smart Fortwo ED		5	0
Seat Altea EV		3	0
BYD F3 DM		2	0
Tesla Roadster		1	0
TOTAL	40	1.664	100

Source: Autoblog.es; El País

Ireland Full Year 2012

At 182 units, this is still a small market, but sales here more than tripled regarding 2011 and the Irish market hasn't been on the Plug-In Hybrids radar yet, so expect more growth coming from there in '13.

The Nissan Leaf retained last year's crown, a rare feat on the EV market, but this time it had serious competition against it, suffice to say that in the end of November the Fluence was still #1 with 3 sales in advance over the Leaf.

The other model to achieve significant sales was the LCV Kangoo ZE with 46 units, making this a Renault-Nissan dominated market.

Ireland	YTD	%
Nissan Leaf	69	38
Renault Fluence ZE	66	36
Renault Kangoo ZE	44	24
Peugeot iOn	1	1
Mitsubishi I-Miev	1	1
Citröen C-Zero	1	1
TOTAL	182	100

Source: Autoblog.es; beepbeep.ie

Denmark Full Year 2012

At a round 500 cars sold in 2012, up from 353 units in '11, EV's continue to grow consistently in the danish market, where plug-in hybrids still have marginal sales.

In 2012 the Renault Fluence ZE landed with a bang, winning the best seller crown with 198 cars, more than doubling the sales of the Peugeot iOn, leader in the previous year and now a distant #2.

Denmark	Dec	2012	%
Renault Fluence ZE	24	198	40
Peugeot iOn	1	90	18
Citröen C-Zero	5	86	17
Nissan Leaf	6	73	15
Mitsubishi I-Miev	6	25	5
Tesla Roaster	1	12	2
Opel Ampera		11	2
Toyota Prius Plug-In		3	1
Fisker Karma		2	0
TOTAL	43	500	100

Source: http://www.bilimp.dk/statistics/index.asp

USA Full Year 2012

The largest EV market in the world grew by some 300% in 2012 to 54.683 units, with last December setting an all-time record of 7.669 cars, leaving good prospects for growth this year.

2012 was Volt's year, where sales more than tripled and enabled it to win the #1 crown, leaving the runner-up at almost 11.000 units.

But despite being left in #2, it was a great launch year for the Prius Plug-In, after all it relegated last year's leader, the Nissan Leaf, to the last place of the podium. That's what you get when you can't increase sales in a growing market, Nissan...

Next was the Ford C-Max Energi, which in regard of the few months on sale, it looks to go after the top three positions, making the best seller in 2013 a four model race.

In #5 is the Tesla Model S, now finally increasing production. It remains to be seen if all that hype around the car translates in real sales, but one thing is for certain, this is a model to be followed closely this year.

Further down in the ranking there are several pure electrics with little more than symbolic sales, although the Focus Electric seems to be gaining some ground at #6 in December and #7 YTD.

Taking the risk of repeating myself a lot this year on this regard, for the first time Plug-In Hybrid sales surpassed those of  Pure Electrics, with 73% market share in 2012.

USA	Dec	YTD	%
Chevrolet Volt	2.633	23.461	43
Toyota Prius Plug-In	1.361	12.750	23
Nissan Leaf	1.489	9.819	18
Ford C-Max Energi	971	2.374	4
Tesla Model S	800	2.303	4
Fisker Karma	100	1.506	3
Ford Focus Electric	167	685	1
BMW Active E		673	1
Mitsubishi I-Miev	77	588	1
Toyota RAV4 EV	52	192	0
Smart Fortwo ED		139	0
Coda EV		100	0
Honda Fit EV	19	93	0
TOTAL	7.669	54.683	100

Source: www.insideevs.com