Tesla top in global shift to BEVs

The Tesla Model 3 is streets ahead of the rest in a big global drive towards battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

That’s according to the latest EV volumes global EV sales report for the first half of this year to June, showing the Model 3 at 128,000 units – way ahead of the BJEV EU-Series EV on 45,000 units sold and the Nissan Leaf on 35,000 units respectively.

“As expected and still impressive, the new Tesla was the world’s best selling plug-in in H1 and by a large margin,” EV volumes’ Roland Irle says.

“Sales volumes approach those of premium competitors selling 300 to 400,000 units per year.”

Irle predicts that once Tesla production starts in China global volumes will be on a similar scale to leaders in the internal combustion engine (ICE) mid-luxury segment.

The EV volumes

report shows global plug-in deliveries reached 1.134 million units in the first half of 2019 – 46% higher than for the same period in 2018. That includes all BEV and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) passenger car sales, light trucks in the Americas and light commercial vehicles in Europe and Asia.

About 74% of sales were BEVs and 26% PHEVs – “a massive shift of 11% towards BEVs compared to the first half of 2018”.

A new breed of hybrids is now on the scene – mild hybrids (MHEVs) which use an electric motor as engine assist and recuperate some kinetic energy during deceleration, the report says.

EV volumes says MHEVS have become standard variants in many cases and, as in Fiat-Chrysler’s RAM, sell in high volumes.

The entire electric and hybrid range had 3.05 million “xEV” sales in the first half of this year (BEV 820,000, PHEV 296,000, HEV 1370,000 and MHEV 564,000), the report adds.