Introduction
The Shanghai Auto Show is coming to an end, but the penetration of new energy vehicles in Shanghai has reached a very high level. According to EVdata, 22,226 new energy passenger cars were registered in Shanghai in March, an increase of 33.7% compared to the previous month. In the first quarter of this year, 61,000 new energy vehicles were registered, exceeding the demand for the entire year of 2019 and half of the 117,200 in 2020.
As for the penetration rate of new vehicles, the rates for January to March were 32%, 45%, and 41%, respectively. Under policy incentives, Shanghai is expected to move towards the market penetration rate of Norway, where green license plates are ubiquitous.
Note: The total number of new energy passenger cars in Shanghai is 386,800, a quarterly increase of 15.7%, which is indeed rapidly rising.
Overview of Vehicle Registration in Shanghai
In March, there were 22,000 new energy vehicles registered and insured in Shanghai. Due to the policy of prohibiting out-of-town license plates for vehicles within the Inner Ring Road, this wave of consumers has turned to new energy vehicles after the May Day holiday. In terms of seasonality, 2020 Q3 saw 28,500 registrations, while under the new policy, Q4 exploded to 56,100 and Q1 saw the strongest registration quarter for individual consumption during the traditional off-season with 61,000 registrations. Under policies like those in Shanghai, there is indeed very strong individual demand for new energy vehicles.
Therefore, compared to the number of auctions, the number of new energy vehicles issued is approximately 1.5 to 2 times that of auctions, and the growth rate of pure electric vehicles is very fast. This month, 14,642 new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were registered, accounting for 66% of the monthly total, with 7,584 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) registered. In Q1, the total registration volume of BEVs accounted for 62% of the total, and Shanghai’s local consumption habits have already reversed to favor BEVs.
# The Surge of New Energy Vehicle Purchases in Major Cities in Q1 2021
The current state of the pandemic has caused a surge in purchases of new energy vehicles in major cities. According to regional insurance data, the number of new energy vehicles registered in Shanghai is currently three times that of other cities and five times that of the same period last year. In Q1 of this year, Shenzhen saw 24,024 new energy vehicles registered – almost four times that of the same period last year. In Hangzhou, 22,687 new energy vehicles were registered, three times that of the same period last year, while in Guangzhou, the number was 16,676, which is 2.5 times the number from last year. This trend is observed in most major cities.
New energy vehicles in Shanghai have seen high rates of registration. In March, the demand for new energy vehicles already accounted for 41% of all small car registrations in Shanghai. Of course, there were still many registrations for gas vehicles in the first month. However, the overall trend for the first quarter is in favor of new energy vehicles.
The data used here is from the Shanghai Information Center’s Automotive Industry Research Room. In March 2021, the total number of registrations in Shanghai was 55,464 – including 32,592 small cars, of which 10,753 were auctioned. The remaining 22,000 cars require further analysis.
Of the 60,000 cars registered in Shanghai this year, SUVs, particularly the Model Y, have the highest percentage of registrations – 25,539, accounting for 40.86%. Next are locally produced mid-to-high-end vehicles, including Tesla, which totaled 19,588 (a 31-fold increase YoY), accounting for 31.34% of all registrations. It is also worth noting that A00-class micro-cars have reached 4,325 units, a 20-fold increase YoY, and are slowly squeezing the popularity of traditional sedans.
Tesla continues to top the list of brands with the most registrations in Shanghai with 6,783 vehicles. Following them are SAIC, BYD, NIO, and SAIC Volkswagen.The top five car models in terms of sales volume are Tesla Model 3 (4,627), Tesla Model Y (2,156), Roewe RX5 ePLUS (1,540), Roewe ei6 MAX (957), and BYD Han EV (793).
Note: In the first quarter, Tesla insured 12,931 cars in Shanghai, accounting for nearly 18.57% of the 69,631 newly registered Teslas nationwide.
Summary
It’s very interesting to look at the data for Shanghai every month. Of course, the growth rate of new energy vehicles in Shanghai may decrease before the whole country’s, as it has increased rapidly in recent months. In the new energy vehicle market, Shanghai is like the core area of California.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.