Registrations of battery electric vehicles (BEV) in Europe doubled during the first months of 2020, while overall passenger cars fell by 25.6% compared to the same period last year. Data by the European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO) shows
The EAFO, which collects data for all vehicle types and for infrastructure when it comes to alternative fuels (electric, hydrogen, LPG, LNG, CNG, biofuels), noticed that these accounted for 5.4% of total in 2019 and the amount of BEV registrations alone rose by more than 100% in the first quarter of 2020. The current coronacrisis played a role.
In particular, due to the COVID outbreak and lockdown, overall European car sales in March dropped by 55% compared to last year. However, when we look at electric cars, they have seen a relatively lower drop than diesel or petrol cars. If anything, they reached an all time high during these months.