European demand for fully electric vehicles has all but stalled, according to a new report from the European Union’s main lobbying and standards group for the automobile industry.
That means that the 2024 year-to-date battery-electric car sales growth rate in the EU is a whopping 52.5 percentage points lower than in the year-earlier period.
The tepid 1.3 percent pace of growth is also significantly lower than the 4.5 percent increase in all new vehicle registrations, according to the latest ACEA report, which was released on July 18.
Registrations of battery-electric cars fell by 1 percent in June 2024 from the same month last year, while plug-in hybrids plunged by 19.9 percent. The only powertrain category to post growth was hybrid-electric vehicles, which saw 26.4 percent year-over-year growth in June.
Demand for diesel and gasoline cars remained relatively stable in June 2024, with gas-powered car registrations falling by 0.7 percent and those of diesel vehicles dropping by 0.9 percent from the same month last year.
The ACEA report dovetails with the recent findings of JATO Dynamics, an automobile market intelligence and analytics firm.
“Europe’s growth is becoming more moderate—still far from levels seen pre-pandemic due to a more complex operating environment, including emissions regulations, increasing prices of vehicles, and barriers facing the adoption of electric cars,” Felipe Munoz, global analyst at JATO Dynamics, said in a statement.
“Since the semi-conductor shortage, electric vehicles have been the main driver of growth.”
“Without these competitive prices coming from China, consumers will face higher prices, meaning … demand could fall over the next few months,” Mr. Munoz said.