Electric cars still on trickle charge

WESTERN EUROPE
AID EXCLUSIVE
Electric cars still on trickle charge
In characteristic tradition, for the already wary electric car industry, April’s European turnout brought a fair mixture of sunshine and showers
Published: Fri, 24 May 2013 10:30:24 GMT
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The good news for the electro car industry is that April’s first-time registrations of their plug-in cars in Western Europe were up almost a half.

The not so good news is that the industry’s total haul this same April reached just under 2,600 electric cars, thus accounting for a near invisible 0.26 per cent of the region’s new car market, AID’s exclusively compiled April figures reveal.

April’s contrasting figures from the West European markets regularly and exclusively monitored by AID every month, spotlight the distortions caused in these main markets by some special one-off factors.

Registrations of electric cars this April were up on a year ago in eight markets, and fell below last year’s levels in seven markets.

This year's numerically most significant gain took place in France, which, thanks to the launch of Renault’s innovative new ZOE, currently ranks as the region’s biggest electric car market.

9,403
New electric car registrations in Western Europe during this year's opening third

A large slice of a still tiny cake, France, with 3,188 new electric car registrations during the four months to April this year, currently accounts for just over a third of the 9,403 electric cars registered in the whole of Western Europe during this year’s opening third.

French electric car registrations this April, buoyed chiefly by the ZOE launch factor, more than doubled to 940 units.

And yet, April’s outwardly impressive gain in West Europe’s overall electric car registrations, albeit from last year’s distressingly low levels, was helped by further notable gains in some neighbouring markets and contrasting upsets in others...more

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Mere straw-fire or first faint hint of eagerly awaited electric car breakthrough? 30 Apr 2013

Sounds of Silence – Renault’s new ZOE 30 Apr 2013

Uphill slog for hybrid cars 19 Mar 2013

DATA AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS WITH THIS ARTICLE:

WEST EUROPEAN new ELECTRIC CAR SALES:
West European new electric car sales: by country APRIL 2013 VS. APRIL 2012
West European new electric car sales: by country 4-MTHS '13 VS. 4-MTHS '12

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