Europe Beats China in Electric Vehicle Sales, Study Shows
The trend may reverse as the pandemic continues to restrain public life in Europe.
A Renault Zoe electric automobile outside of a dealership in Paris.
Photographer: Christophe Morin/BloombergEurope’s five largest automotive markets edged past China in electric vehicle registrations in the first quarter of 2020, as China battled the outbreak of the coronavirus and imposed shutdowns countrywide, according to a study by PwC and its strategy consulting subsidiary Strategy&.
Germany, France, the U.K, Italy and Spain collectively registered 79,300 fully electric vehicles between January and March, narrowly edging past the 77,256 in China, the study found. Unit sales more than doubled in Europe in that period, compared with the first quarter of 2019. In China, sales fell by more than half in the quarter because of the lockdown.