News: 0175259991

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Global EV Sales Up 30.5% In September (reuters.com)

(Tuesday October 15, 2024 @11:30PM (BeauHD) from the would-you-look-at-that dept.)


An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters:

> Global sales of fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles [1]rose by an annual 30.5% in September , as China surpassed its record numbers recorded in August and Europe resumed growth, market research firm Rho Motion said on Tuesday. Gains in the U.S. market have been slow and steady in anticipation of the Nov. 5 election, which makes it difficult to predict future trends in the country, data manager Charles Lester told Reuters. EVs -- whether fully electric (BEV) or plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) -- sold worldwide reached 1.69 million in September, Rho Motion data showed.

>

> Sales in China jumped 47.9% in September and reached 1.12 million vehicles, while in the United States and Canada they were up 4.3% to 0.15 million. In Europe, EV sales rose 4.2% to 0.3 million units, thanks to a 24% jump in the United Kingdom and gains in Italy, Germany and Denmark, Lester said. In the Chinese market, the penetration rate of BEV and PHEV is growing faster than some expected and sales "could be a record every month until the end of the year", Lester said. He added that Germany's 7% year-on-year growth was "definitely positive news", and that intermediate carbon emission reduction goals set in the EU for next year will test the bloc's market.



[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/global-ev-sales-up-305-september-china-shines-europe-recuperates-2024-10-14/



EV market (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

Well don't I remember people around here trying to claim that EV sales were dead?

Sure seems like a lot of unsubstantiated bullshit remains unsubstantiated, and bullshit.

Re: (Score:2)

by test321 ( 8891681 )

I think the explanation is that these statistics include hybrids, which are an easier purchase decision (at least for for buyers who have good money). The battery EVs is what is more interesting to follow, because it implies a disruptive choice. The data I read today for EU is that the battery EVs are down in sales year to year, it's the hybrids that increased a lot and are pulling the overall numbers up.

Re: (Score:1)

by geekmux ( 1040042 )

> The data I read today for EU is that the battery EVs are down in sales year to year, it's the hybrids that increased a lot and are pulling the overall numbers up.

In other words, actual EV sales are shit, and the 30-year old hybrid tech that barely nets you a 10% efficiency gain in 90% of models is what is selling, in exchange for a load of complex tech to go wrong under the hood.

Seems the one thing that still sells like hotcakes, is bullshit.

Re: (Score:2)

by geekmux ( 1040042 )

> in exchange for a load of complex tech to go wrong under the hood. This seams logical at first glance but the numbers don't actually bare this out, at least in the case of something like Prius reliability ratings vs those of Tesla. The former is at the very top of all reliability ratings even with all it's supposed over-complexity, while Tesla sits at the very bottom with all the old German ICE makers.

Until you can find me the 25-year old Prius community still going strong on original hardware, I was more referring to the additional complexity added to an ICE engine with hybrid technology, with often laughable gains. 1-3MPG better than standard models? Why even bother with hybrid complexity unless your motivation is after market profit through maintenance? That’s still a polluting tailpipe on a hybrid. And the Prius represents part of the tiny fraction of hybrids that at least try and make hybr

Re: EV market (Score:3)

by javaman235 ( 461502 )

Thats just not true. I was a company using Prius and Yaris (non hybrid Prius) for company fleet and mpg were 50 and 35 respectively.

Re: (Score:3)

by timeOday ( 582209 )

That's not correct. These data include PHEV (plug-in hybrids), but not what are now called "mild-hybrids" like the original Prius.

Re: (Score:2)

by hey! ( 33014 )

That "barely 10%" improvement may be true for older mild hybrids with ICE engines that run in the Otto cycle, but full hybrids that run on the Atkinson cycle get something more like 30% better mileage. The Atkinson cycle also reduces wear on the engine and emission components. So despite the added complexities of having two different kinds of motors, when you calculate the TCO it's actually cheaper to run a hybrid than an equivalent ICE car.

Despite whatever a priori misgivings I may have had about a hybri

Re: (Score:2)

by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 )

Here in Yurp, the majority of taxis & police cars, are fully BEV. There's a lot of personal BEV cars too. I don't think Yurp has the same kinds of issues with BEVs that the USA seems to have.

Also, only looking at cars doesn't take into account the numbers of people who are leaving their cars at home & getting around on bikes, electric power-assisted bikes, & electric scooters. Where I am, they're everywhere. A lot of people use them to get to work. Additionally, the hybrid buses here are gett

Re: (Score:2)

by rossdee ( 243626 )

"Also, only looking at cars doesn't take into account the numbers of people who are leaving their cars at home & getting around on bikes, electric power-assisted bikes, & electric scooters. Where I am, they're everywhere. A lot of people use them to get to work."

Do they not have rain or snow over there?

Meanwhile Tesla's stock cratered 9% (Score:2)

by rsilvergun ( 571051 )

though it looks like it's back up after the dip. Basically a large sell off when that event flopped and then it stabilized. It's still at half what it was 3 years ago. Though I guess better than it was 6 mo ago when it was half what it is today (or 1/4 the 3 year high).

Tesla needs to update it tech or it's gonna get it's lunch eating. The Cybertruck has been a disaster and they've run through all the preorders. Turns out you can't just turn a middling SUV into a truck on a whim. They did get a nice sto

Re: (Score:2)

by quonset ( 4839537 )

While the Cybertruck struggles to not short circuit in any amount of water, a Rivian can apparently survive [1]a hurricane induced flood [imgur.com] and go on to deliver supplies.

[1] https://i.imgur.com/UcIi3hn.mp4

Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

by AvitarX ( 172628 )

Tesla is going to struggle until it can get rid of its public perception of being Elon Musk and focus on making profitable EVs that remain an excellent value proposition.

The fact that Tesla can profitably make EVs that are 10+% less than similar competitors is HUGE for the company, but people seem to be willing to pay the extra to avoid association with Musk.

The Cyber Truck seems like a miss too. It was revealed in prototype form as something innovative putting function over form. As it went into production

They tried, Musk blocked them (Score:2)

by rsilvergun ( 571051 )

The board managed for force Musk to hire a marketing department.

Well, he hired them, then immediately fired them.

Tesla *is* Musk. It lives and dies by Musk. There's no getting around that. He has friends on the board of directors and between their shares and his Tesla might as well be a privately owned company. He has controlling interest thanks to his buddy's shares, so none of the usual breaks and safety measures work.

The only reason his $55bn dollar pay package (more than all the profit Tesla

Re: (Score:1)

by backslashdot ( 95548 )

It didn't help that their CEO started hanging out with Nazis and allowed himself to double down on only right wing memes.

Re: (Score:2)

by quonset ( 4839537 )

> It didn't help that their CEO started hanging out with Nazis and allowed himself to double down on only right wing memes.

Or that he is [1]censoring information [hiphopwired.com] on his failing platform.

[1] https://hiphopwired.com/2426972/donald-trump-campaign-asked-elon-musk-block-jd-vance-leak/

Re: (Score:2)

by backslashdot ( 95548 )

Yeah it's funny how quickly the video of him and his brother Kimbal admitting they were illegal in the US .

Re: (Score:2)

by backslashdot ( 95548 )

(was suppressed). FYI here is the video [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hvr0gYlXKs

Re: (Score:2)

by Powercntrl ( 458442 )

> though it looks like it's back up after the dip. Basically a large sell off when that event flopped and then it stabilized. It's still at half what it was 3 years ago. Though I guess better than it was 6 mo ago when it was half what it is today (or 1/4 the 3 year high).

Tesla's stock is based on speculative value, and you've presumably seen enough cryptocurrency and meme stock stories to know how that works. That's more the fault of Wall St. living in some fantasy world rather than anything Tesla is doing wrong, though.

> They make $8k per car, which sounds nice until you realize that's with a $7500 gov't subsidy that's on track to go away in a few years.

Might go away even sooner if Musk gets his presidential endorsement wish granted. It certainly is weird watching a CEO sabotage his company in real time.

> When it does unless Tesla pulls some major tech out of their bums and gets us a sub $30k 4 door EV Sedan they're dead walking.

You're probably already well familiar with the average selling price of a new vehicle in the USA, so it

Re: (Score:2)

by dfghjk ( 711126 )

Tesla's "tech" is ok, it's their cars that are junk. Tesla has no interest in making a good car, never has. They make good electric drivetrains bolted to the worst cars made.

If Tesla doesn't understand it, their strategy is to say you don't need it. Take one-pedal driving, Tesla cannot figure out how to blend regen and braking, so you don't need it. Instead, regen on the accelerator, brake only on the brake pedal. Awful, yet their might stock price convinces the ignorant that Tesla has good ideas. Sam

Big surprise (Score:2)

by fluffernutter ( 1411889 )

Big surprise. In China where they are $20k there was a 40% increase. Here where they are $60k the increase was 4%.

Re:Big surprise (Score:4, Informative)

by Powercntrl ( 458442 )

> Big surprise. In China where they are $20k there was a 40% increase. Here where they are $60k the increase was 4%.

A Model 3 starts at $38,990. Real-world pricing for the Chevrolet Equinox around my neck of the woods starts at $39,135. From personal experience, if you tell a Chevy dealer "I'm not paying Tesla prices for a Chevy EV", they absolutely will come down a bit on the price.

Also, the Chevy does qualify for the $7,500 tax credit, but the base Model 3 does not. [1]It's complicated. [cars.com]

[1] https://www.cars.com/articles/which-electric-cars-are-still-eligible-for-the-7500-federal-tax-credit-429824/

Re: (Score:2)

by dfghjk ( 711126 )

The news is not about a competition between China and the rest of the world or whether those results should be expected, you just choose to read it that way then fabricate some evidence to denigrate those reporting the numbers.

Every sale is great news. (Score:3)

by MMC Monster ( 602931 )

Every save of an electric car is one less sale of a gas car, and therefore less reliance on oil from the middle east. Yes, The US is producing more oil now than any previous time in history of he country. But less oil means less worrying what the middle east is up to.

Re: (Score:2)

by Powercntrl ( 458442 )

> It's even more impactful once you account for the cars that run on petrol.

There's always gotta be one of you. Here in the USA we call petrol "gas" even though it's not a gas. Sometimes we even eat crappy gas station food and it gives us gas while we get gas. [1]It happens. [flickr.com]

[1] https://www.flickr.com/photos/wrherndon/4547811173

Re: (Score:2)

by RossCWilliams ( 5513152 )

> Every save(sic) of an electric car is one less sale of a gas car

No, its not. There are plenty of people who would not have bought a new ICE vehicle that are buying a new EV because they mistakenly think it will reduce emissions.

Its also doubtful that our involvement in the mideast has anything to do with US oil use, we are net exporters of oil. It has more to do with US oil companies' interests, geopolitics and emotional support for Israel.

In 2-3 years I'll be looking for a new car (Score:2)

by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 )

I'm hoping there's a robust and broad non-Tesla EV marketplace available when I'm ready to buy. If not, I might end up with another ICE vehicle, or just running my current one a few years longer (hey, I held onto that Escort Wagon for a very long time, I can do the same with the Camry).

I typically try to avoid letting personalities / politics affect my purchasing decisions, but Musk is such a flaming turd of a human that I simply can't see myself buying anything from a company for which he's the public face

Re: (Score:2)

by Powercntrl ( 458442 )

> or just running my current one a few years longer (hey, I held onto that Escort Wagon for a very long time, I can do the same with the Camry).

I had an '02 Camry that I drove into the ground. Only ended up getting rid of it because it needed an engine rebuild and was costing me a fortune in gas.

If money wasn't an object, I'd probably be one of those crazy rich people with a fully restored vintage '02 Camry just because I really liked that car. And I'd probably still just drive my Bolt everywhere to keep from putting miles on the Camry.

Saw some driving a Hummer EV the other day (Score:2)

by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 )

In the parking lot at an apple orchard.

Thing had tires as wide as a dump truck's.

Made the Rivians and Cybertrucks I see on the road look puny by comparison.

My first thought was, this dude isn't going apple picking, he's getting provisions for invading Russia. Until his battery runs out, that is.

Life is like an onion: you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes
you weep.
-- Carl Sandburg