Tag Archives: Electric vehicle

News

Demand for EVs in Germany dropped by 54.9 percent

At the end of last year, the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) predicted that the demand for EVs in Germany will fall in 2024, despite constant growth in the world market. This already happened in January, when demand dropped by 54.9 percent compared to the same period in 2023. One of the reasons is the abolition of the subsidy.

The German government’s sudden decision to temporarily suspend subsidies for the purchase of new EVs has forced manufacturers to reduce vehicle prices in order to remain competitive with other manufacturers. As a reminder, BYD lowered prices by 15 percent, while Dacia reduced the price of the Spring model by 10,000 euros.

Buyers turned to proven options, gasoline and diesel cars, which had a decline in sales last year. However, the current situation with EVs has resulted in demand for cars with internal combustion engines. In January, 9.1 percent more gasoline cars were sold compared to the same period in 2023, while demand for diesels increased by 9.5 percent.

Another major reason for the decline in demand for EVs is the current state of the German economy, which has recently been in crisis, as well as geopolitical tensions in the region. Inflation, high prices and poor infrastructure of charging stations also affect demand. Even the leading car rental companies are looking for alternatives for their fleets due to the high cost of maintaining electric vehicles.

The VDA expects the German car market to drop by 1 percent to 2.82 million in 2024. At the same time, the global market is forecast to grow by 2 percent to 77.4 million cars. “Problems in the supply chain have largely been resolved, but the business environment for German carmakers remains challenging,” said VDA chief economist Manuel Kallweit.

Source: Reuters

News

China is the new EV leader

The electric vehicle market is on the rise, and China is becoming the leader. This is supported by the data for the first half of this year, when 9.54 million units were sold, of which 7.22 million were fully electric, or 76% of total sales.

According to the CPCA (China Passenger Car Association), in June the demand for electric vehicles increased by 43 percent compared to the same period last year. Total sales were 1.28 million cars. However, the majority of vehicles sold are passenger vehicles, and only 3 percent are commercial vehicles.

The Chinese market is huge and constantly growing, especially when it comes to electric vehicles. CPCA also reports that this year, 60 percent of total EVs were produced in China, which is expected in the future due to the country’s well-established industrial chain, but also the high demand of the domestic market.

As a reminder, the global market for new electric vehicles had slow growth between 2012 and 2015 (1.58 to 1.79 million units sold). However, the development of new EVs has grown rapidly since 2016, to 9.77 million electrified vehicles in 2020, of which 3.19 million were hybrids.

In the next two years, sales of electrified vehicles reached 14.11 million units, of which 26 percent were PHEVs. If we look at the first half of 2023, growth in numbers is inevitable, and this year could be a record year.

Source: CPCA

EV, News

Tesla Semi Electric Truck

Tesla is again delaying the start of production of the Semi electric truck due to problems in the development of the new 4680 battery cells.

Although it was announced that production of the Tesla Semi electric truck would begin this year, the Q2 report confirmed the opposite. This is not the first time that the start of Semi production has been delayed. Mass production of the Semi was supposed to start in 2019, but it was postponed to 2021.

The company informed shareholders that the delay was due to limited availability of battery cells and problems in the supply chain.

“To better focus on these factors, and due to the limited availability of battery cells and global supply chain challenges, we have shifted the launch of the Semi truck program to 2022.”

The Tesla Semi has a range of 300-500 miles and will sell for $ 150,000 (base model with a range of 300 miles) and $ 180,000 (500 miles range). Up to 60 mph comes in 20 seconds with an energy consumption of 2 kWh per mile, and reservations cost $ 20,000.

Source: Tesla