Fossils Panic! September In Germany Hits Record 15.6% Plugin Vehicle Market Share

October 6th, 2020 by Dr. Maximilian Holland

Germany, the #1 largest auto market in Europe and #3 globally, hit a record 15.6% plugin electric vehicle market share in September 2020, up 4 times from 3.8% in September 2019. Combined petrol and diesel vehicle market share fell by a precipitous 18.4% year on year, in an overall auto market that grew 8.4%. Cumulative plugin market share for 2020 now stands at 10.0% and is climbing rapidly.

The combined plugin electric vehicle result in September was contributed fairly evenly by full battery electrics (BEVs) at 8.0% share and plugin hybrids (PHEVs) at 7.6%. Year to date cumulative contribution stands at 4.8% BEV and 5.2% PHEV.

Whilst plugin market share grew by 4x over September 2019, the actual unit sales volume grew by 4.5x. Meanwhile combined petrol and diesel sales fell year-on-year by 18.4% in market share and by 13.9% in unit sales volume.

Model Sales Mostly Unknown

We don’t yet have good detail on the best selling plugin models in September, but Renault have put out a press release stating that the ZOE sold 3,600 units in Germany in September:

“…sales doubled to 15,731 units (2019: 7,872) compared to the same period of the previous year from January to September. 3,600 registrations in September alone represent a new monthly record. This means that the electric model remains the best-selling electric car on the German market.” Renault press release (translated)

The fact that Renault say the ZOE “remains the best-selling electric car” echoes the language that sibling company Nissan previously used to describe the LEAF. Once the Tesla Model 3 production got going in decent volumes (from spring 2018) this was no longer strictly true of the Nissan LEAF.

From that time on, and for a while longer, the LEAF could still claim to hold the title of the “most sold” (past tense) on a historical cumulative basis, but was no longer correctly described as the “best selling” (present tense). This didn’t stop Nissan from using the phrase however.

Since early 2020, the Tesla Model 3 overtook the LEAF even on cumulative total, so Nissan no longer makes any such claims.

https://cleantechnica.com/2020/10/06/fossils-panic-september-in-germany-hits-record-15-6-ev-market-share/