Before continuing, please answer and estimate the following question:
How many eco- friendly vehicles are registered each year? ...
Sorry, wrong answer.
The problem of eco- friendly cars
Answering this question always leads to different results and numerous misunderstandings. Why? Because an estimated 95% of the population consider the terms sustainable, environmentally friendly, eco-friendly, green, energy-efficient and climate-friendly as synonymous.
Finding an exact number for "environmentally or eco-friendly vehicles" is simply impossible. There is no defining definition. Energy efficiency and climate friendliness are quite clearly based on CO2 emissions. In
addition, nitrogen oxides and fine dust also plays an important role. For petrol-driven cars as for Diesel-driven cars. This means that a vehicle can be climate-friendly and energy-efficient by means of low CO2 values, but can nevertheless damage the environment, especially the human being, by emitting fine dust. At the same time you can have an electric, emission-free vehicle. An emission-free vehicle can also be based on a non-emission-free energy generation and then we are again at the difficulty of the definition "environmentally friendly". This discussion is worth its own article.
Big picture in worldwide market development of BEV
In this article, we will focus on “emission-free” electric vehicles. We define the environmentally friendly drive mode as electric vehicles: BEV. In most statistics, the Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV) is also counted to the EV. Statistics which we have takenare those of the German ZSW and CAR Institute (- if not others mentioned).
In 2016 there are about 1.2 billion registered vehicles worldwide: 250 million (about 20%) USA, 125 million (about 10%) China, 46 million (about 4%) Germany. The leading car manufacturers (2014, registered vehicles) are Volkswagen, Toyota, General Motors, Renault, Hyundai-Kia. First Chinese manufacturer is ranked 13 SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation).
New car registrations worldwide are at 78 million (2016), of which about 650,000 BEV – corresponding market share of 0.8%. To this extent, it is still clear at the first glance that the market leaders, especially in Europe, have neglected this area for years in their model range. However, a different picture becomes visible when one considers the geographic distribution and the growth rates. 60% of the EVs are newly registered in China (2016: approx. 400,000). The annual growth rate is 100%. In the United States, approximately 133,000 (+ 17%) are admitted in 2016, in Norway 41,000 (+ 50%) and in Germany 23,000 (approximately + 10%).
A very interesting aspect is the fact that in Germany, USA and China, mainly domestic producers are on the top of the admission rankings. In 2015, Tesla was the most successful importer in China: but just number 15 in the admission numbers, otherwise only Chinese producers. However, in a German survey (2016) Tesla, BMW, and Daimler are named as the leading automobile manufacturers in the field of electric vehicles (source: statista 2016). The worldwide number of registrations (source: inovev) is different. In the first place, BYD (60,000) is a Chinese group, followed by Tesla (51,598), Mitsubishi (48,203) and VW (46,845). This statistics includes the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) to the electric vehicles. These few figures show. Even if the number of new registrations of BEV has not yet reached 1% of the total market. The dynamics and growth rates are exponential.
No media coverage = no cars?
Do you know more then 1 or 2 chinese manufacturers ? No - right? So far, we do not see any Chinese EV car manufacturers in our media. The Chinese manufacturers are simply “blinded”. The EV market will continue to grow. It would be surprising if then the EV market leaders did not also want to expand to Europe and USA. If the dynamism in Europe does not pick up, we could have an offer of high-quality generation 3 BEVs from
China in the next five years, which then compete with the generation 2 of the traditional market leaders. The consumer will decide. Currently, however, the majority of consumers are not based in Europe or the USA.
In the field of photovoltaics the market has turned in just a few years. Both markets are not comparable. PV was a new market segment. There were hardly any brands. The purchase decision was based solely on price and quality. However, this also means that the market leaders so far should not rest on their brand
and quality advantages too long. BEV are also a new segment. And generally at the moment the importance of the car within the mobility needs of consumers is taking a new place, worldwide.
Great dynamism in the market, that means great opportunities, - especially for the
environment-, but also great challenge for market leaders.