By RON HAMMERTON Courtesy of GO AUTO
SALES of plug-in vehicles in Chinathis year are on track to crack onemillion, accounting for about half ofthe world’s expected volume of batteryelectric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in2018.Chinese electrified car sales inOctober were up 85 per cent, to a record119,400 units, taking year-to-date pluginvehicle sales there to 751,000 unitsand putting plug-ins on target to take aChinese market share of about four percent this year.Despite a slowing of general vehiclesales in the world’s biggest motormarket in recent months, sales ofwhat China describes as New EnergyVehicles (NEVs) have been drivenupwards by a swarm of new modelsand government measures to cutvehicle emissions, including quotas onvehicle manufacturers.Because car sales in the final twomonths of the year are usually amongthe strongest of the year in China,industry pundits expect NEV sales tocomfortably make one million unitsand possibly 1.1 million – more thanwas sold in the entire world last year.Globally, forecasts suggest EV saleswill double to a record 2.1 million in2018, with Europe (about 430,000) andthe United States (360,000) runningsecond and third to China.About two thirds of the globalplug-in sales are all-electric batteryelectric vehicles (BEVs), with pluginhybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs)making up the remainder. In China,the percentage of BEVs is higher,about 75 per cent.About 40 manufacturers are vyingfor a slice of the NEV pie in China,collectively offering more than 100electrified models – almost double thenumber of EV varieties on that marketlast year (56).Unlike general passenger car saleswhere foreign brands rule, Chinesedomestic car-makers dominate pluginsales, with makers such as BAIC(Beijing Auto), BYD, Hawtai andChery among the top sellers.In October, BAIC’s EC-Serieselectric runabout topped the charts witha record 20,648 sales – well ahead ofthe next-best BYD Tang PHEV SUV(6037) and BYD Yuan EV (5803).The EC-Series becomes the firstEV to be ranked in the monthly top20 sellers in the overall passenger carmarket due to its affordability andpopularity in big cities where electricvehicles are easier to register thaninternal combustion vehicles.Foreign brands are playing catchupin EV sales, with BMW and Teslaleading the charge so far. BMW’s 530eis the top-selling foreign NEV, butTesla is about to ramp up the Model 3.All brands need to achieve a quotaof EVs in their sales by governmentorder, so the pressure is on to make theswitch, especially in the market leadersGeneral Motors and Volkswagen.A
