ACEA has presented an interactive map of the affordability of electric cars – the correlation between market uptake and GDP in the EU. This map visualises the correlation between the market uptake of electrically-chargeable vehicles (ECVs) and GDP per capita for each of the 27 EU member states and the United Kingdom.
The map indicates that, across the EU, 3.0% of all new cars registered in 2019 were electrically-chargeable (ECVs). However, 11 EU member states still have an ECV market share lower than 1%, of which seven countries even have an ECV share of 0.5% or lower. The market uptake of electrically-chargeable vehicles (ECVs) is directly correlated to a country’s GDP per capita, showing that affordability is a major barrier to consumers.
Moreover, all countries with an ECV market share of less than 1% have a GDP below €30,000, including EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe, but also Italy and Greece. Almost 80% of all the electric car sales are concentrated in just six Western European countries with some of the highest GDPs. There is a clear split in the affordability of ECVs between Central-Eastern Europe and Western Europe, as well as a pronounced North-South divide running across the continent (eg Greece 0.4% and Italy 0.9%).
The interactive map also represents that the Top 5 countries with the lowest share of electric cars in the EU are Estonia – 0.3% (GDP of €21,160), Lithuania – 0.4% (GDP of €17,340), Slovakia – 0.4% (GDP of €17,270), Greece – 0.4% (GDP of €17,500), and Poland – 0.5% (GDP of €13,780).
On the contrary, the 5 biggest ECV market shares are in Germany – 3.0% (GDP of €41,510), United Kingdom – 3.1% (GDP of €37,780), France – 2.8% (GDP of €35,960), Italy – 0.9% (GDP of €29,610) and Spain – 1.4% ECVs (GDP of €26,440).
