All electric car records to be broken

General Secretary Christina Bu of the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association is very pleased with a number of new electric car records. For the first time, more electric cars were registered in June than diesel cars. (Photo: Aksel Jermstad / elbil.no)

All electric car records to be broken

– It’s amazing that the electric cars took a bigger part of the pie than both gasoline and diesel cars in June. Nearly 18,000 were registered in the first half of the year, and we are still getting more electric cars, says Secretary General Christina Bu of the Norwegian Electric Car Association.

 

Before the last week of June, we predicted that the old registration record from March 2015, with both newly registered and used-imported electric cars (about 3,800), would be broken.

The answer from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) exceeded all expectations: 3,946 electric vehicles of a total 14,228 initial registration of cars gives a market share of nearly 28 percent for fully electric cars. Diesel and petrol fuelled cars had respectively 24 and 23 percent market share. It is a doubling compared to the same month last year.

The electric car is actually conquering the mass market. This is what we work for every single day and it is amazing that the electric cars for the first time had a significantly higher market share than the fossil cars, says a very pleased Secretary General Christina Bu in the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association.

If we include the plug-in hybrids, the chargeable share of the market in June was over 43 percent. It was 35 percent overall in the first half.

Additional “Electric drivers” emerge constantly

The result of elbil.no’s survey, Elbilisten 2017, reveal that many electric vehicle owners are novel: 35 percent of the over 12,000 respondents has owned a electric vehicle for less than one year.

The share that has owned an electric car for three years or more turned out to be less than 20 percent. It says a lot about how fast the development is, and about the Norwegian will to try out new technology. As a member organization, we also notice significantly increased efforts. Novice electric drivers have more needs for consumer assistance, especially related to charging, than the experienced ones, says Bu.

The feedback from the market this year confirms this.

Presently we have received both monthly and half-year records for electric car registrations. The average CO2 emissions from newly registered passenger cars were also at a historically low level in June (78g/km). The main reasons for this is primarily the electric cars – and in part the chargeable hybrids.

The annual record of electric car registrations, from 2015, will no doubt be beaten, says Bu, adding that after the first half of 2017 there are about 120,000 electric cars on Norwegian roads.

Annual forecast of 37,500: wholly possible

– Electric vehicles leave actually occupy six of the seven first places among passenger cars. The best-selling passenger car model so far this year is the electric car BMW i3. The statistics confirm that there are models with most reach that are the most popular, and Norwegians stand in line to pre-order the newcomers to the market, says Bu, who is eager to see how the second half of the year evolves.

Norwegian electric car association has previously predicted over 37,500 newly registered electric cars this year – up from just over 24,000 last year. Much indicates that this will be achieved when the imported imports of electric cars, own statistics at OFV, are included. The answer so far is 14.786 initial registrations and 3058 used imports – a total of 17,844.

In June, the used imports delivered 579 electric cars, which means that the actual registration number was 4,525. It was around 700 more than in the previous record month of March 2015.

With an average of 3,300 electric cars every month the rest of the year, we reach the target we set for 2017, Bu says.

Background: about the Elbilisten 2017 survey (Electric Vehicle Owner)

  • Elbilisten is an annual survey conducted by Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association among Norwegian electric vehicle owners.
  • Electric Vehicle 2017 is the sixth survey completed.
  • The survey, among other things, answers who the electric vehicle owners are, why they chose electric cars, how they use the electric car and how satisfied they are with their electric car.
  • The survey was conducted between 23 April and 2 May 2017 and sent by email to more than 50,000 electric car owners.
  • More than 12,500 people participated which corresponds to a 24% response rate. Participants used an average of 18 minutes to complete the survey.

 

© Elbil.no / Norway Today