High petrol prices in Europe have sparked a boom in sales of second-hand electric cars – media reports
The rise in petrol prices caused by the war in Iran has led to a sharp increase in sales of second-hand electric vehicles across Europe, a sign that difficulties at the pump are driving consumers away from cars with internal combustion engines.
This is according to Reuters.
“There is currently a boom in electric cars on the used car market,” commented Terje Dahlgren, an analyst at Finn.no, Norway’s largest used car marketplace, adding that electric cars have recently overtaken diesel models as the most popular fuel type on the website.
As a result of the war in Iran, the average price of petrol in the European Union rose by 12% to €1.84 ($2.12) per litre between 23 February and 16 March.
French online used car seller Aramisauto stated that its share of electric vehicle sales had almost doubled between 16 February and 9 March, rising from 6.5% to 12.7%.
Over the same three weeks, the share of petrol models on Aramisauto fell from 34% to 28%, whilst diesel models dropped from 14% to 10%.
Amsterdam-based company OlX reported that customer demand for electric vehicles had risen sharply in its markets in France (50%), Romania (40%), Portugal (54%) and Poland (39%), with growth “accelerating steadily every week across all markets”.
The Nordic countries are also seeing a sharp rise in electric vehicle sales. On the Swedish platform Blocket, sales of electric vehicles rose by 11% in the first two weeks of March compared with the previous two weeks, whilst views of electric vehicle models increased by 17%.
“We are seeing a clear shift, with more and more people actively seeking more economical alternatives,” said Blocket’s automotive expert Marcin Stepman.
Denmark is showing a similar trend. In Germany, mobile.de, the country’s largest online car marketplace, reported that the share of searches for electric vehicles on its website had tripled since the start of March – from 12% to 36% – whilst car dealers received 66% more enquiries about used electric vehicles than in February.
“High petrol prices are currently driving up demand for electric vehicles,” mobile.de noted.
