The gentle electric trend is turning into a powerful boom: More and more car companies – such as recently Daimler or Stellantis – will turn off the fuel tap on the combustion engine in ten or 15 years. The EU Commission also wants to do this by 2035. And show the enormous growth rates for electric vehicles since the Corona crisis: buyers are ready to use electricity today.
But many established brands have slept through electromobility and were caught freezing by Tesla & Co. Also because some of the pioneers were unlucky: Opel was there early and it wasn’t worth it. BMW built the i3 at enormous expense, which no one wanted. Nissan rode the Leaf ahead and then eased off. In the meantime, however, these three are also using high-voltage electricity again when it comes to electrical engineering.
Rebuilding is faster
The order of the day for late starters has been: converting conversion models, i.e. cars designed as combustion engines, to electric drives. The advantages of such parallel models: You save millions, are developed quickly and utilize the production capacities of the model. Disadvantage: a converted electric car is a compromise. That doesn’t mean it’s not a good car. But such a twin cannot fully exploit the advantages of the electric drive, for example in terms of space, nor does it offer the best possible range.
But are such conversion models still being bought? Analysts from Jato Dynamics have taken a close look at the European approvals. Currently, among others, Citroën C4 or Hyundai Kona, Opel Corsa and Mokka or Peugeot 208 and 2008, the Renault Twingo and Volvo XC40 as combustion and e-cars are on sale. The amazing result: sales of these types of conversion to electric vehicles increased steadily until the end of 2020 and accounted for a good 30 percent across Europe.
Successful compromise
In the case of the Hyundai Kona, 67 percent of Europe’s today are electric, 15 percent pure combustion and the rest are hybrids. Even the VW E-Golf, which has now been discontinued in favor of the ID.3, performed excellently across Europe. But: Since the ID.3 has been around, it not only ties in seamlessly, but also sells even better.
The dual strategy works amazingly well in the current generation of models and is drawing to a close. Pure electric platforms are currently emerging everywhere to secure the future of electric power. And they can score with more space, more aerodynamics and more range and should then also reach the same price level as the combustion engine in a few years.