Join CleanTechnica’s Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott’s in-depth analyses and high level summariesjoin our daily newsletterand/or follow us on Google News!
Final Up to date on: 18th Might 2025, 12:35 am
Volvo Automobiles remains to be main the transition from fossil-powered automobiles to electrical automobiles globally. In April, 11,697 totally electrical Volvos have been bought worldwide, accounting for about 20% of Volvo Automobiles gross sales. That’s a powerful share for a legacy automaker in 2025. One other 14,688 gross sales have been plugin hybrids, or about 25% of Volvo Automobiles gross sales. So, let’s first give props the place props are due and congratulate Volvo for being at 45% plugin automobile share already.
That mentioned, sadly, issues turned within the fallacious route for Volvo Automobiles not too long ago. Its full-electric automotive gross sales have been down 32% in comparison with April 2024. That’s in comparison with a 5% gross sales drop for gentle hybrids and an total gross sales drop of 11%. (Plugin hybrid gross sales have been up barely, by 2%.)
Throughout the primary 4 months of the 12 months, full electrical automobile (BEV) gross sales have been down 20%, gentle hybrids have been down 8%, and plugin hybrids have been up 11%.
I used to be wanting ahead to Volvo Automobiles reaching 50% BEV share within the subsequent 12 months or three, and possibly 100% by 2030. So, it’s disappointing and a bit bewildering why Volvo BEV gross sales dropped a lot. So, I turned to EV gross sales professional Jose Pontes for any insights he had on the April gross sales drop 12 months over 12 months.
“The EX30 is down, mainly in Europe, due to MiC tariffs,” Jose famous. That’s the “Made in China” tariffs that the European Union not too long ago caught on BEVs from China. Volvo is a well-liked model in Europe, naturally, however in case you jack up the worth of one thing, demand goes to drop sharply. Volvo Automobiles, after all, is now owned by Geely, and far manufacturing happens in China.
In the meanwhile, Volvo might keep away from the excessive BEV tariffs a bit by shifting to extra plugin hybrid gross sales in Europe. (That’s productive, proper?) Nevertheless, in time, I anticipate Volvo to have options for the tariffs and to select up optimistic BEV gross sales momentum once more.
Whether or not you’ve got solar energy or not, please full our latest solar power survey.
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Need to promote? Need to counsel a visitor for our CleanTech Speak podcast? Contact us here.
Join our day by day publication for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or join our weekly one on top stories of the week if day by day is simply too frequent.
CleanTechnica makes use of affiliate hyperlinks. See our coverage here.
CleanTechnica’s Comment Policy
