Electric Van Sales: A Mixed Bag in Europe
While the overall market for vans in Europe is booming, electric vans are facing a slight setback. According to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), registrations of electric vans saw a decrease in market share in the first nine months of 2024.
During the first nine months of 2024, the EU recorded 1,170,310 new van registrations, representing an 8.5 percent growth compared to the same period last year. Adding the United Kingdom and EFTA states (Norway, Switzerland, Iceland) pushes the total to almost 1.485 million new vans, a rise of 7.5 percent.
However, diesel vans still dominate the market, holding approximately 85 percent of the market share at the EU level, including the UK and EFTA states. The diesel share actually saw a slight increase, reaching 83 percent at the EU level and 83.9 percent when including the UK and EFTA countries during the first three quarters of the year.
It’s the partially electric vehicles that have lost ground. ACEA groups hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and “electrically chargeable vehicles” (ECV), which combine plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles. A more specific breakdown between BEVs and PHEVs is not available.
Market share for ECVs dipped slightly. At the EU level, the market share dropped from 7.1 to 5.7 percent. Considering the EU+EFTA+UK region, the market share went from 7.4 to 6.0 percent. Although the transport market has grown, ECVs experienced a decline of just over twelve percent.
HEVs also saw a decrease in new registrations, going from 2.3 to 2.0 percent (EU) and from 2.2 to 2.0 percent (EU+EFTA+UK).
There are noteworthy differences between countries, both in terms of the number of units registered and the direction of the market.
France has emerged as the largest market for electric vans, while Germany still leads in passenger cars. The French market experienced a 9.3 percent growth during the year, with 20,163 new electric vans registered. Germany registered only 10,636 units in the first three quarters, representing a 38.7 percent drop.
Despite the decline in Germany, it remains in second place in the EU. But the UK has surpassed it in the pan-European analysis. While registrations in the UK also decreased by 8.9 percent, they only fell from 15,790 to 14,392 electric vans. This lack of uniformity is also evident across different markets.
The Netherlands saw a near match to its 2023 results with 7,358 new electric vans, a minor difference of just ten vehicles. Sweden saw an increase of 14.8 percent, totaling 6,532 units. Denmark grew by 33.7 percent to 2,748 electric vans. Hungary nearly doubled its figures from 2023, with 951 electric vans, marking a 99 percent increase.
Conversely, the electric transporter market in Italy saw a sharp decline of 53.4 percent, from 6,068 electric transporters in 2023 to just 2,830 this year. Spain also experienced a decrease of 26.5 percent, with 5,124 vehicles.
Belgium recorded a drop of 17.5 percent, even as the Benelux country has recently seen a very improved performance in EV registrations.
Fuel cell vans are not addressed in the ACEA publication.
