Time flies. The primary half of 2023 has already been over for some time, and the EV transition is accelerating, so we’re bringing information from a area usually forgotten when talking about electrical automobiles: Latin America.

We’ll divide this collection of articles into three components: the laggards, the center of the pack, and the leaders. For every, we are going to current three nations with some element, plus one honorable (or dis-honorable) point out, relying on the circumstances. The data will probably be introduced on the element allowed by the supply (usually, a authorities establishment or EV-promoter affiliation), so some nations can have extra detailed data than others: in some instances, we will current mild and heavy-duty automobiles and embody PHEVs; in others, we must current solely mild automobiles (or all automobiles) and solely BEVs. We’ll deal with 4-wheelers, so three-wheelers and bikes/scooters won’t be a part of this evaluation.

That being mentioned, let’s begin!

Dishonorable point out: Argentina (0.06% BEV market share)

We begin this text with the dishonorable point out. Argentina is a comparatively large, comparatively rich nation, and but the presence of EVs there’s so marginal that it’s not even current in official statistics (which largely consult with “electrified automobiles,” together with HEVs and even MHEVs).

407,532 automobiles have been offered in Argentina in 2022. Of those, 261 have been BEVs, presenting a powerful market share of … 0.06%.

That’s proper, of us, Argentina is the one nation in our complete checklist but to surpass not 1%, however 0.1% BEV. Electrical automobiles within the nation are principally a margin error, a statistical anomaly, and although PHEVs could possibly convey plug-in market share to 0.1%, we are able to’t know, as a result of they aren’t labeled individually from HEVs.

Within the first half of 2023, issues have considerably improved, with 170 BEVs being offered in a market totaling 235,100 items. That brings market share as much as … 0.07%! I wouldn’t be holding my breath right here. Argentina appears more likely to stay a laggard within the foreseeable future, although imports from Brazil should change the course of the market. Not many particulars about BEV gross sales may be discovered on-line, however plainly the regionally produced Tito Corradir stays probably the most offered BEV within the nation.

#9. Perú (0.2% plug-in market share)

In contrast to Argentina, Peru at the least has already surpassed 0.1% market share, presenting 110 BEVs and 96 PHEVs in H1 2023 in a market totaling 94,983 items. All in all, BEVs and PHEVs correspond to 0.1% of the market every. That greater than doubles Argentina’s market share!

Jokes apart, it’s clear that Peru has a marginal EV market share, and although issues appeared to be rushing up in 2022 (when gross sales tripled, as in comparison with 2021), 2023 has up to now proven disappointing outcomes, with solely a 50% improve. Usually, that may be excellent news, however once we’re ranging from a place so low, much more is required to maintain the optimism.

There’s a basic pattern that, every time a rustic has marginal EV market share (reminiscent of Peru and Argentina), all information shops current “electrified” gross sales as a substitute of BEVs or PHEVs, so it’s exhausting to search out plug-in gross sales leaders. In Peru’s case, we have been capable of finding out that the Toyota RAV4, the Volvo CX40 and CX90 (all PHEVs) comprise the rostrum for H1 2023.

#8. Ecuador (0.7% plug-in market share)

Subsequent in our checklist is Ecuador, and although numbers stay low, we’re virtually reaching the symbolic 1% milestone right here.
In H1 2023, 69.947 automobiles have been offered in complete within the small equatorial nation (pun meant), with 303 of those being BEVs and 180 PHEVs. Moreover, plug-in gross sales greater than doubled from H1 2022, with BEVs rising 87% and PHEVs rising 246%. Now, these are the charges that make one maintain the optimism on!

The rising pattern for EVs in Ecuador has sparked the curiosity of Terpel Voltex, Colombia’s largest fast-charging community, which entered the nation with a 94kW fast-charging station in Guayaquil final month. Nonetheless, the corporate appears to have foregone the teachings realized within the Colombian market, and nonetheless opted for the CHAdeMO plug over the much more wanted GB/T.

Ecuador nonetheless belongs to the aforementioned group the place “electrified” automobiles are all listed collectively, however we nonetheless came upon that the Audi E-Tron (43 items) and the Mercedes GLE line (33 items) have been the plug-in leaders.

#7. Panama (0.8% plug-in market share)

And we end our first half with a tragic be aware, for even the chief of the laggards stays below the symbolic 1% milestone. Issues will get higher in our subsequent chapter, so there’s that.

In contrast to Peru and Ecuador, Panama doesn’t appear to have any official establishment publishing numbers for month-to-month gross sales. H1 complete gross sales couldn’t be discovered, however primarily based on earlier years’ developments, and the numbers for Q1, we calculated them to be round 23.000 automobiles (give or take just a few), 157 of which have been BEV and 24 PHEV. Gross sales in H1 2023 almost attain the full numbers for 2022, that means a fast-growing market right here as properly:

Panama can be involved in selling Electrical Buses and taxis and has obtained -alongside Paraguay and Uruguay- 122 million USD to maintain advancing in its electrical technique.

Regardless of Panama being probably the most EV-friendly nation within the first a part of our checklist, I need to admit my disappointment. By far, that is the wealthiest nation in your complete rating (and in Latin America), but it stays up to now behind many others, although it has the assets and the geography to have the ability to quickly electrify, if that’s the case it wished. However hey, at the least it’s not Argentina!

Fairly quickly, we’ll publish the second a part of the collection, so keep tuned!

I do not like paywalls. You do not like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Right here at CleanTechnica, we carried out a restricted paywall for some time, nevertheless it at all times felt fallacious — and it was at all times robust to resolve what we should always put behind there. In principle, your most unique and greatest content material goes behind a paywall. However then fewer individuals learn it! We simply don’t love paywalls, and so we have determined to ditch ours.

Sadly, the media enterprise continues to be a troublesome, cut-throat enterprise with tiny margins. It is a unending Olympic problem to remain above water and even maybe — gasp — develop. So …