Mexico doubles electric car sales
Mexico added 2,100 electric car charging stations across the country, an increase of 1,246 percent in five years. Four times more hybrid and electric cars were sold in the country in the last five years. Despite the pandemic crisis, sales in 2021 were up more than 100 percent over 2020.
Four times more hybrid and electric cars were sold in the country in the last five years. Despite the pandemic crisis, sales in 2021 were up more than 100 percent over 2020.
Data provided by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), as of November 2021, the sale of hybrid and electric cars in Mexico increased by 106 percent, i.e. 22,087 new units were sold as of November 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.
At first glance, one might think of a rebound effect due to the crisis experienced during 2020, but the trend is growing. If the last 5 years are taken into account -as of November of each year- the increase was 367 percent, when in the same period light car sales decreased by 45 percent. Of the 121,343 cars sold in those five years, 40 percent correspond to this last year.
When segregating the total by 100 percent electric cars, the variation is even greater: 75 percent of the increase in sales in recent years corresponds to January-November 2021. Electric car sales in 2021 (latest available data: January-November 2021): 838 electric; 3,13 plug-in hybrids; and 39,118 hybrids.
Figures indicate that the leading entities in the purchase and sale of units are Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Nuevo Leon, Jalisco, Sinaloa, Guanajuato, Puebla, Michoacan, Veracruz, and Coahuila.
According to data from the Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA), in 2020, the automotive industry in Mexico marketed 24,405 hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicles, representing 2.6 percent of the total number of light vehicles sold that year. Although the percentage is still low, the increase is steady; as of November 2021, the share of electric vehicles to light vehicles increased to 4.7 percent.
A study conducted by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), the manufacture of electric cars will cost less than combustion vehicles between 2025 and 2027, it also forecasts that it will occupy 100 percent of sales in 2035.
On the other hand, gasoline prices will drop with the rise of electric cars. By 2013, some 150 million electric cars will be sold per year, 28 percent more than at present, where these parameters still seem impossible. Current costs of ecological cars start at 343,200 pesos.
Unlike conventional cars, these electric vehicles have a lithium charger, which means that they cannot be charged just anywhere. According to data provided by the Electromaps platform, Mexico is the Latin American country with the most electric vehicle chargers on public roads available to users.
According to the latest data available from Statista, the country added two thousand 100 charging stations across the country in 2019, an increase of one thousand 246 percent in 5 years, but if one considers that sales in that year had increased by 45 percent, the amount is still insufficient.
The main challenge is to expand the penetration of technology throughout the territory: not only to urban areas but also to highways and roads. The underlying ones are: achieving accessibility for all through tax incentives and greater stimuli for sales and establishing an infrastructure for recharging hybrid and electric car batteries that is in line with the quantities sold.
The means to achieve these goals should not only be based on private-private partnerships, but it is also necessary to coordinate with public authorities on policies to bring electrification to the whole country.
