2020 – the year of the EV

Next year promises to have the highest number of new EV introductions globally ever.

That’s more than 20 – nine of them battery electric vehicles (BEVs) – and most of them will be arriving in the third and fourth quarters, the latest EV-volumes.com reports.

The boost will be needed, as 2019 has not been the best year for EVs, especially in the US.

The US had a negative trend which is likely to continue this year and into the first half of 2020, the report suggests.

EV-volumes.com says there were 236,700 PHEVs delivered in the US in the first three-quarters of 2019 – an increase of just 2% compared to the same period in 2018.

The October 2019 result of 23,200 units was 33% lower than in October 2018, with the EV sector now in reverse year-on-year, the report adds.

It says the “bleak picture” is caused by a number of factors, such as Tesla delivering on its pent up Model 3 demand with sales in the US and Canada only before exports to other markets from after the first quarter of this year. Plus many OEMs sold fewer EVs this year than last year in the US, whereas European importers “held the line”.

BEV and PHEV sales by the “Big Three” were down 28% and Japanese brands lost 22%, the report says. Tesla sales were up 9% year-to-date and stand for 55% of the BEV and PHEV volume in the US.

The Tesla share of BEVs is 76%.

EV.volumes.com says it has begun tracking important battery metrics and will soon provide detailed specs of each car’s battery. It’s also providing additional databases, including OEM and model forecasts until 2025, along with OEM battery demand.

It also has breakdowns of BEV and PHEV buses and trucks by country and OEM, 2030 forecasts and more.