How many fully electric vehicles, traditional hybrids and plug-in hybrids were sold in South Africa in the 1st half of 2024? Let’s take a closer look at the official sales figures…
Naamsa has released official sales figures for so-called new-energy vehicles (NEVs) – that is, fully electric vehicles (EVs), traditional hybrids and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) – for the 2nd quarter of the year, allowing us to calculate total registrations for the 1st half of 2024.
According to the industry representative body, NEV sales across the now-18 brands active in this space increased 169.8% year on year to 4 122 units in the 2nd quarter of 2024. According to our calculations, that takes the H1 2024 total to 7 164 units. As a reminder, this part of the market saw significant year-on-year increases of 421.7% (to 4 674 units) in 2022 and 65.7% (to 7 746 units) in 2023, though both instances admittedly came off low bases.
In addition, it’s worth noting electrified models still comprise only a small (but growing) fraction of local registrations, with NEV sales – Naamsa seemingly doesn’t include mild hybrids in this group – breaching the 1% barrier for the 1st time last year, having comprised 1.45% of the total new-vehicle market. In the opening half of 2024, meanwhile, NEV registrations represented 2.91% of the total market, based on our calculations.
According to Naamsa, EV registrations in Q2 2024 came in at 419 units, up from 270 units in the 2nd quarter of 2023 (that’s a year-on-year increase of 55.2%). By our maths, that pushes the EV total to 749 units in the 1st half of 2024; for context, the industry representative body says total EV sales for 2023 sat at 929 units. The Volvo EX30 was the top-selling fully electric car in H1 2024 with 281 units, accounting for more than a 3rd of all registrations.
What about PHEVs? Well, plug-in hybrids were yet again far less popular than fully electric models, with just 160 units sold in Mzansi in the 2nd quarter of the year (up 31.1%, year on year). Still, with the H1 2024 total thus sitting at 298 units, the PHEV segment (which recently welcomed the Toyota RAV4 PHEV, albeit quietly) remains on track to surpass its 2023 total of 336 units.
That leaves traditional hybrids, which unsurprisingly accounted for the bulk of NEV registrations in Q2 2024 at approximately 86% (likely largely thanks to dual-powered versions of the Prospecton-built Corolla Cross), with a sales total up a whopping 203.6% year on year to 3 543 units. So, over the 1st half of 2024, as many as 6 117 units have been sold in the traditional hybrid segment. For the record, Naamsa’s latest dataset suggests traditional hybrid sales came in at 6 518 units last year, so we’ll surely see a new record here, too.
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