So far, 2020 is not a year people will remember with joy. On the contrary: they will be glad to have survived it. The COVID-19 pandemic also ruined businesses and is still a threat to many. With such a prospect, having anything better now than it was in 2019 is a massive victory. In the UK, that applies to electric car sales, according to Road To Recovery.
This analysis tool developed by LeaseFetcher uses Google Trend data. Every week, it assesses what people are looking for, and its latest insight was that customers are more interested in EVs than one year ago. Is that a craving for a world without oil? We’d like to think so.
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Apparently, the push started on May 11, when Boris Johnson launched the recovery strategy for the UK. In March, car demand tumbled. Since the prime minister’s speech, people decided it was a good idea to get a new ride, but not just anything on wheels. They want something with a large battery.
Although searches for electric cars are already higher than they were in the same period of 2019, they are lower than they were before lockdown. Taking this negatively is not good policy: it means the change was already in place, despite the pandemic.
According to LeaseFetcher’s press release, Tesla vehicles like the Model S and the Model X had a strong recovery, surpassing the searches they had by this time in 2019. Anyway, the BMW i3 recovered the number of searches it had before COVID-19 struck. We are not sure if the numbers were good, but they were probably better than in 2019.
Another electric vehicle that is doing great in the British market is the Audi e-tron. The release does not mention how the Jaguar I-Pace. When we checked the tool, we saw it does not include that car in its report. Low sales, perhaps? We hope it gets included in the future.
Source: LeaseFetcher’s Road To Recovery
Road To Recovery Tool Suggests Electric Vehicle Car Sales Will Bounce Back Rapidly
Google Trends data show that, since the PM’s launch of the COVID-19 recovery strategy (11 May), there has been a significant boom in demand across the automotive industry - so much so that the demand is now parallel with the numbers pre-lockdown, this surge in demand is especially evident in the electric vehicle industry.
The Road to Recovery Dashboard: Electric Vehicles is part of a tool built by LeaseFetcher, a car leasing comparison site based in Scotland. “The dashboard aims to observe long term and immediate changes in demand and will help inform predictions about the future for the electric vehicle and automotive industry,” says Will Craig, Founder of LeaseFetcher.
Pulling its raw data from Google Trends on a weekly basis, the tool provides an invaluable insight into consumer sentiment and behaviour.
In March, demand across the automotive industry nosedives. Now, following the announcement on the 11th of May, introducing step one of the recovery strategy, demand is once again on the rise.
While search volume for ‘electric car’ hasn’t yet returned to its pre-COVID, record-breaking levels, there’s every indication that it will do soon. ‘Electric car’ has already surpassed 2019 levels.
Specifically, the Tesla Model S and Model X have seen strong recoveries, matching and even exceeding interest this time last year.
Demand for the compact BMW i3 has recently returned to its pre-COVID levels, while the higher-end Audi e-Tron has already exceeded this. This is a strong recovery considering the demand fell by 70.1% and 63.5% respectively from the 8th of March to the 22nd of March.
With over 200 miles of range now the norm and 30 minute fast chargers popping up left, right and centre, electric car owners have less and less to grumble about and potential new owners fewer transition barriers. With demand bouncing back with such force, we are likely to see a surge in new electric vehicle registrations in the coming months.
If COVID-19 has shown us one thing, it is the very tangible impact of air pollution on our health. Around the world, people have had their first taste of truly fresh air for a very long time as roads were closed, cars left unused and heavy industry was brought to a standstill. Electric cars produce zero tailpipe emissions, which make them an invaluable part of any strategy to tackle inner-city emissions and to make the world a greener, better, place.
The Road to Recovery Dashboard Electric Vehicles is an extension of the Road to Recovery Dashboard. LeaseFetcher will continue to update the dashboard on a weekly basis to track the progress of the industry-wide recovery from COVID-19.
