AUTONEWS

Electric and hybrid imports into the EU suffer overload

According to Eurostat, the market for European electric and hybrid vehicles (with gasoline and diesel, along with battery traction) is starting to become overwhelmed by imports. In early 2020, the trend accelerated significantly. The United States has become the main supplier of electric and hybrid vehicles in the EU, and European electric vehicles are more likely to travel to the United Kingdom.
In 2019, the market for electric and hybrid vehicles in the EU had a surplus of 1.1 billion euros. During the period covered by the report, the EU exported machines in these categories worth 8.2 billion euros and imported them worth 7.1 billion euros. At the same time, electric vehicles predominated in trade: 69% of all imports were imported and 56% of all exports were exported. Hybrid vehicles represented 31% of imports and 44% of exports.
In 2018, exports increased 24% compared to 2017, while in 2019 they increased 54% compared to 2018. But this pales in the face of the growth rates of imports. Thus, in the period from 2017 to 2018, imports more than doubled - by 104% and increased more than three times - by 208% - in the period from 2018 to 2019.



Looking at the growth rate of imports towards electric cars, it is easy to imagine that in 2020 exports will exceed and the trade balance will be negative. In fact, in the period from January to April 2020, inclusive, exports of electric cars in the annual comparison increased from 2.5 billion euros to 2.9 billion, while imports jumped from 1.8 billion to 3.1 billion in the same period. The EU's trade balance in this market has turned negative and this trend is likely to continue.
The main destinations for EU exports in 2019 were the United Kingdom (26% of exports in terms of value), Norway (22%) and the USA (19%). Imports into the EU came mainly from the USA (43% of imports in terms of value), South Korea (23%) and the United Kingdom (17%). The coronavirus pandemic slowed the market in April, but the economy is gradually returning to its previous course.

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