Over in Norway, things are looking good for electric cars. As the auto market recovers from the effects of the pandemic that took over most of last year, it has become clear that electric vehicles in the Nordic country are already dominating sales charts.
Last month, March, battery electric vehicles made up 56% of all new car registrations. In comparison, it was 23.7% for the same period in 2020. Total actual number bought was 8,624. For the same period, 4,379 plug-in hybrids were snapped up, a massive increase of 83% over March 2020. Put together, EVs took 85% of all cars sold. This was an increase of 39% over March 2020 figures.
Taking figures from January to March, 19,159 BEVs have been sold, resulting in 52.8% market share. PHEVs moved 10,605 units. Combined market share was 82%. PHEVs set a new monthly record for March.
Norway has been the undisputed leader of e-mobility adoption and has some of the most ambitious plans for eco-friendly transport. For example, it has the target of banning sales of new non-electric cars by 2025. If this trend of EV sales continues, the Nordic nation will have no issues meeting the target. It helps that the country is among the more affluent and the government have attractive incentives to go electric in place for its citizens.
Topping the list of vehicles sold by brands are Tesla, Volkswagen, Nissan, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW.
Similar upward trends are observed in China for the same period. 226,000 EVs were sold nationwide, which while more than double the sales for February, was actually 239% better than for March 2020. Wuling especially had a good run, as it seems they sold EVs as fast as they could make them. The company moved nearly 40,000 units of its Hongguang Mini EV, a compact vehicle. That was after selling 37,000 units in January.
Globally, EV share will reach 28% by 2030, according to BNEF. Other analysts are slightly more optimistic, putting it at 30%.