MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2019) The United States has outstripped Europe and became the second largest market for electric cars in 2018 with a share of 2.1 percent, while China continues to hold top position, a fresh analysis by the European Federation for Transport and Environment revealed on Wednesday.
"The US has become the second largest electric passenger car market in the world, selling 361,000 EVs [electric vehicles] in 2018 (a 2.1% market share) and relegating Europe to the third place with 302,000 cars (or a 2.0% market share ... China continues to top the ranking with over one million EVs sold last year and an EV market share of 4%," the non-governmental organization said.
The US market has seen a 120 percent year-on-year increase in sales in the last quarter of 2018, while the European one has experienced a growth of only 33 percent over the same period, according to the Transport and Environment.
"EU carmakers have seen electric cars as a necessary evil to comply with regulation and evidence shows they've been suppressing supply and sales in 2018, in an attempt to protect their diesel business. Meanwhile China is racing ahead and even Trump's America has now overtaken Europe thanks to the Tesla-fueled EV sales boom," Lucien Mathieu, the organization's E-mobility analyst, said.
In 2017, the European Commission proposed new targets for the EU's average carbon dioxide emissions of new passenger cars and vans to help speed up the transition to low and zero emission vehicles. However in December, 2018, the European Union failed to reach consensus on the carbon dioxide emissions.
