The Swedes are now also turning their backs on new electric cars – not to as high a degree as the Germans – but the first half of 2024 was still one constant decline, new analysis shows.
During the first six months of 2024, significantly fewer new electric cars were sold in Sweden than in the same period just one year ago.
Specifically, the number of new electric cars fell by 10,372 or 22.5 percent. This meant that 35,744 new electric cars were given Swedish number plates during the first half of the year.
This is shown by a report from Swedish Kvdbil .
For comparison, in the first six months of 2024, 38,939 electric cars were sold in Denmark. And in fact, the Danish car market is generally the only one that has progressed. In Norway, they are struggling with new car sales that have not been seen lower for more than 30 years.
READ ALSO: Norway sets a record – 92 percent of new cars run on electricity
– Increased interest rates and the abolition of the tax rebate on electric cars have made the financing of a new electric car much more expensive. Many have sought the used market, where the prices are lower, but this has not been able to fully compensate for the weak new sales, says Daniel Odsberg, sales manager at Kvdbil.
However, the sales manager believes that interest rates are about to fall, and that the desire to buy cows will therefore also return among the Swedes.
And should sales of electric cars increase again in Sweden, Daniel Odsberg believes that this may partly be linked to a lemming effect. People want to have what the neighbor has.
– Seeing neighbors and friends switch to an electric car makes more people realize that an electric car meets their needs at least as well as a fossil fueled car.
– Development is fast, and today a range of 400 to 500 kilometers is standard for most newer models, which is more than enough for most, says the sales manager.
However, this is not necessarily the same as the fact that the car factories are prepared to bet unequivocally on electric cars. More and more consumers are looking in the direction of hybrid cars.
Something that made brands like Volkswagen and Mercedes invest several hundred billion kroner in this type of development. Read more about it here .
In Germany, sales of electric cars are something close to collapsing and now for the seventh month in a row. In fact, it was already going downhill when the country's government suspended all public support for the electric car with immediate effect in December 2023.
Read more exciting news from and about the world of cars right here!