E-Mobility Index 2021: China leads the market, Germany strengthens its position
Bucking the trend: While automotive markets around the world were heavily disrupted by the Corona pandemic last year, sales of electric vehicles – particularly in Germany – rose sharply. According to the authors of the “E-Mobility Index 2021” study, the German automotive industry should, for the most part, be able to meet the ambitious CO2 targets set by policymakers. The study shows that the global situation is more disparate. Japan, for example, recorded a slump in electric car sales in 2020, while the market for electric vehicles in China and the United States grew moderately.
The latest “E-Mobility Index 2021”, which was jointly developed by Roland Berger and fka GmbH, is based on three indicators: technology, industry and market. These indicators enable an objective view of the status quo of e-mobility in the leading automotive nations: China, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea and the USA.
E-mobility achieves a breakthrough
In Germany alone, nearly 400,000 electric vehicles were sold in 2020, compared to just 112,000 in the previous year. This means that electric car sales more than tripled, and the share of electric vehicles in Germany in the overall market rose to 12.6 percent (2019: 2.9 percent). Germany is now the world’s second largest market for electric vehicles, behind China.
E-mobility also experienced a huge boost last year in the two other European markets included in the study. 194,000 (2019: 69,000) electric vehicles were sold in France and 61,000 (2019: 18,000) in Italy. Such positive development of e-mobility in Europe can primarily be attributed to government support for electric vehicles in the form of purchase bonuses. In Germany, for example, public authorities and manufacturers subsidize the purchase of fully electric vehicles by up to 9,000 euros, and plug-in hybrids by up to 6,750 euros.
Supply of electric vehicles grows
The ever-growing range of electric vehicles has also contributed to the rise in e-mobility. Corresponding electric cars are now available for purchase in every vehicle class, and almost all automotive manufacturers launched new models in 2020 – in Germany, 15 fully electric vehicles and 20 plug-in hybrids. This year, the German automotive industry plans to introduce another 14 fully electric vehicles. Only the U.S. is ahead of Germany, with an expected introduction of 20 all-electric models for 2021. China and France each plan to introduce 11 fully electric models this year.
