The global electric vehicle market is suffering one of the most dramatic collapses in monthly sales to date, Rystad Energy noted in a statement sent to Rigzone this week.
According to the company’s research, 672,000 units were sold in January 2023, which Rystad noted was nearly half of December 2022 sales and a three percent year-over-year increase from January 2022. The company also revealed that the market share of electric vehicles among all sales of passenger cars. it dropped to 14 percent in January 2023 from 23 percent in December 2022.
A chart included in Rystad’s statement dating back to January 2021 showed that electric vehicle sales and market share peaked in December last year. Sales of electric vehicles increased in seven of the 12 months of 2022, according to the chart, which showed that market share nearly doubled from January 2022 to December 2022.
In the statement sent to Rigzone, Rystad said tax credits and government subsidies have supported the electric vehicle market so far, noting that the reduction or elimination of those subsidies this year has dampened consumer sentiment. The company said the auto market is usually cyclical, with sales hit after new subsidy rules come into effect at the start of each year followed by a gradual recovery, but added that the cuts in January 2023 “affected more than normal, causing this dramatic. collapse”.
Rystad warned in the statement that the ramifications of this will be “long-lasting”, noting that it will affect sales in the first quarter of the year “and potentially the rest of 2023”.
“The sands are shifting for the global electric vehicle market,” Abhishek Murali, clean technology analyst at Rystad Energy, said in a company statement.
“Consumer appetite for electric cars remains strong, but it’s clear that tax credits and subsidies still play an important role in convincing consumers to make the switch. Automakers may have no choice but to respond with reduced prices,” he added.
Compensation of electric vehicles, charging points, sticker prices
In a separate statement posted on its website last month, Rystad noted that the adoption of electric vehicles is approaching the levels needed to offset annual global growth in the size of the active car fleet.
“Transport emissions increased by 0.2 Gtpa (gigatons per annum) to reach 7.8 Gtpa in 2022, down from pre-Covid peaks of 8.2 Gtpa due to continued weakness in the transport sector aviation, caused by the pandemic and the acceleration of the penetration of electric vehicles,” Rystad stated at the time.
In another statement published on Rystad’s site in October last year, Rystad revealed that its data showed that “the deployment of charging points must increase if the targets that countries have set themselves are to be met established for the adoption of electric vehicles, which are often an integral part of net zero emissions cutting plans”.
That statement also highlighted that Rystad’s research showed, at the time, that “public charging infrastructure is not a limiting factor for the rapid adoption of electric vehicles, especially in emerging markets.”
“In countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands, there is no direct correlation between the growth of charging infrastructure and the number of electric vehicles sold,” Rystad said in the statement.
“Of much greater importance to consumers are issues such as high fuel prices for combustion engines or high sticker prices for electric vehicles,” Rystad added.
To contact the author, please send an email andreas.exarcheas@rigzone.com
