E-car boom continues unabated

E-car boom continues unabated

The electric transformation of the automotive industry continues unabated despite the tense economic situation. The high demand for electric cars and the resulting full order books could mitigate the impending recession in the industry. This is shown by the results of the current “Electric Vehicle Sales Review” by PwC Autofacts® and Strategy&, PwC's strategy consultancy, in which the new registration figures in 14 selected markets worldwide are evaluated. In the third quarter of 2022, 74.7% more purely electric vehicles (Battery Electric Vehicle, BEV) were registered worldwide than in the same period last year. In the second quarter of 2022, growth was only 61.7%. At the same time, BEVs are expanding their share in almost all core markets and could account for more than half of all new registrations worldwide as early as 2035. In China their share could then be 73% and in Europe even 93%.

As Chinese manufacturers sell more and more BEVs in Europe, both European and American manufacturers are increasingly moving their BEV production to China - shifting Europe's role from exporter to importer of cars. As early as 2025, almost 800,000 Chinese-made cars could be sold in Europe, of which more than 330,000 would be from European Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) brands. Last year, European manufacturers only exported 35,000 BEVs from China to Europe. The study predicts that the number of BEVs will double by 2022, with 66,000. This development means that Europe could achieve an import surplus of more than 221,000 vehicles (combustion engines and electric cars) by 2025. Just a few years ago, Europe recorded an export surplus of cars - in 2015 this was almost 1.7 million vehicles.

The European automotive market is experiencing growing competition from Chinese OEMs. Although they have only played a minor role in Europe so far, they could have captured around 5% of the European BEV market share by 2030. In Austria, the number of fully electric vehicles rose by 9.4% in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. Since the beginning of the year, however, the number of newly registered BEVs has decreased slightly compared to the previous year, recording a decline of 0.1%. A total of 24,104 fully electric vehicles have been newly registered in Austria since January - their market share is currently 14.8%. An import surplus in car sales is expected for Austria with 5,216 cars as early as 2025.

"The European manufacturers are still struggling with delivery problems and are primarily relying on BEV models in the upper price segment. The Chinese manufacturers, on the other hand, have optimized and further developed their products in the domestic market, so that they are now bringing affordable BEV models, innovative technology and novel concepts to Europe. As a result, we see that no European model makes it into the top 5 best-selling e-cars worldwide," says Johannes Schneider, partner at Strategy& Austria. “In order to maintain their structures, use the momentum of the electrical transformation and continue to benefit from economies of scale, European OEMs must now take action and get their supply chains under control and accelerate their development and start-up processes at home and abroad.”