The auto industry is voluntarily slowing the spread of electric cars

T&E analysis on the reasons behind the slow spread of electric cars in Europe

(sustainabilityenvironment.com) – The problem of the low diffusion of electric cars in Europe? Is the price, yes. But behind it there is a deliberate choice of car manufacturers. They put on the market mostly large models. And so, of course, more expensive. While the EV offer of compact models is far less.

What is behind the slow spread of electric cars in Europe?

The numbers give a clear idea of the size of the problem. Only 17% of electric cars sold in Europe in 2023 are compact B-segment vehicles, typically cheaper. A strategy that specifically concerns the electric. Just look at the share of this segment for diesel and petrol cars: it is 37%.

And in Italy, the Cinderella of Europe on EVs, the distance grows even more. In the case of Italy, “the same data show an even greater disproportion: 20% of the annual electric sales are in segment B, while for petrol or diesel cars, the corresponding share reaches 47%“, the pan-European NGO Transport & Environment in a report on the reasons for the slow spread of electric cars published yesterday.

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This is the situation today. But has it always been so? The strategy of car manufacturers comes from afar, and so they are artificially slowing down the spread of electric cars making them, in fact, less accessible to buyers. Or is it a more short-term dynamic, perhaps influenced by other factors? T&E’s answer is clear: if we add the time variable, the responsibility of car manufacturers emerges even more clearly.

Between 2018 and 2023, according to T&E data, only 40 fully electric models were launched in Europe in the compact segments (A and B), compared to 66 large and luxury models (D and E) placed on the market in the same period. This directly affects prices.

So much so that from 2015 to today, the average cost of an EV in Europe has grown by 39%, that is, by 18,000 euros. Not because prices have increased per se, but because the range of SUVs and large cars has expanded. In the same time frame, the cost of EVs in China – the world’s 1st electric car market – fell by 53%. It is therefore not a matter of technologies, components or manufacturing processes, but simply of industrial strategy.