Electrification is happening in Europe. For the first time in history, electric vehicles sold more than diesel engines.
Data from automotive analyst Matthias Schmidt published by the Financial Times stated that in December 2021 for the first time, sales of electric vehicles were more than sales of vehicles with diesel engines. From this data, in December 2021 in 18 Western European countries, sales of electric vehicles reached 176,000 units, while sales of vehicles with diesel engines reached 160,000 units.
What should be noted is that the data is for BEV type vehicles. If using NEV vehicle types (hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and BEVs), overall electric vehicle sales overtook diesel vehicle sales in September 2020.
Diesel vehicles have long been the choice across Europe for decades thanks to fuel subsidies. However, many European countries have started to incentivize the purchase of electric vehicles. One of the countries that provides incentives to purchase electric vehicles is Norway. By 2021, Electric vehicles accounted for 65 percent of new car sales in Norway.
Meanwhile across the Atlantic it is gradually banning new cars powered by internal combustion engines after 2030.
In America, the Biden administration has outlined executive actions to spur sales of electric vehicles, including aspirations for 50% of new vehicles sold to feature battery-electric powertrains by 2030. Another thing it does is budgeted $5B for 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the USA.
