In Latvia, a total of 287 electric cars were registered for the first time in three quarters. Among them, 229 battery-powered and 58 externally rechargeable electric cars were sold in Latvia.
In the first three quarters of last year, only 67 electric cars were registered in Latvia.
Latvia has thus set a registered record for the growth of electric cars – by 328%, leaving behind Slovakia, where there was an increase of 316.5%, the Czech Republic, where there was an increase of 245.5%, and Estonia, where there was an increase of 208.5%.
High sales results of externally chargeable electric cars have also been registered in the rest of the Baltics. In Estonia, 253 such cars were sold in nine months of this year, which is 208% more than in the same period last year, when 82 cars were registered for the first time. In Lithuania, a total of 328 externally chargeable electric cars were sold in the first nine months of this year, which is 173% more than in the same period last year, when 120 such cars were sold.
The growth rates of electric car sales in the Baltics are well ahead of the EU as a whole. In three quarters of this year, a total of 570,278 electric cars were initially registered in the EU, compared to 256,863 cars in the same period last year. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, sales in EU countries have increased by 122%.
In total, the largest number of electric vehicles sold in Germany in the first nine months of this year – 204,492 cars, which is 174% more than in the same period last year. France is in second place with 110,874 electric cars sold, which is 162% more than a year earlier. The third place is taken by the Netherlands, where 39,240 electric cars were sold in the first nine months of this year, which is 16.3% more than last year. The lowest sales of electric cars were in Cyprus, where only 22 cars were sold from January to September, compared to 18 in the same period last year.
Over the last three years, sales of electric vehicles in the EU as a whole have increased by 110%, while the number of recharging points has increased by only 58% to almost 200,000.
Issues of infrastructure availability are also topical in the Baltics, but in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, much has been discussed over the past year about the necessary state support for the purchase of electric cars, and its amount varies in the Baltic States. In Estonia, the state program provides support for the purchase of electric cars in the amount of 5,000 euros. A similar program for the purchase of both electric cars and electric scooters and scooters also operates in Lithuania, but state co-financing for the purchase of a vehicle is available only if the old vehicle is destroyed. Latvia, meanwhile, does not provide any financial support for the purchase of electric vehicles, but electric vehicles have such bonuses as free parking and the opportunity to move around public transport lanes.
For comparison, in the near Ukraine of the Baltic States, according to the Ukravtoprom Association, in the first three quarters of 2020, the population purchased a total of 5,400 electric cars, which is 6% more than in the same period in 2019.
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