By Alessandro Parodi
April 14 (Reuters) - High petrol prices in Europe steered car buyers towards EVs in a record-beating March, and led to the first month of global EV sales growth this year, data by consultancy Benchmark Mineral Intelligence showed on Tuesday.
Governments worldwide have capped fuel prices to shield motorists from soaring costs after the war in Iran https://www.reuters.com/world/iran/, which erupted on Feb. 28, disrupted a key shipping route carrying about 20% of global oil supplies.
BMI said registrations, a proxy for sales, of new battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars rose 3% year on year globally to over 1.7 million cars, with a 37% jump in Europe to a monthly all-time high of almost 540,000 EVs sold.
While car registrations lag sales, "there is a good portion of this that you can put down to the rise in petrol prices", BMI data manager Charles Lester said.
Growth was strongest in countries that saw the sharpest increases in energy prices, including Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Thailand, which together drove a 79% rise in EV registrations outside the three main markets of China, Europe and North America, Lester added.
CHINA, U.S. DECLINE SLOWS
EV registrations in China, the world's largest car market, fell by 14% to over 850,000 vehicles sold, slowing a negative trend started in January after the country pulled nL1N3WA0H5 funding for auto trade-ins and a tax exemption on EV purchases expired.
Lester said Chinese consumers, who had used the incentives to buy smaller EVs, were increasingly opting for larger vehicles.
In North America, EV registrations fell by 30% to 121,500 vehicles sold in the month, the sixth consecutive year-on-year drop after the end of an EV tax credit scheme nL1N3X90V0 in the United States and proposals by President Donald Trump's administration to further cut CO2 emission standards nL1N3X90V0.
"It has been its highest monthly figure since the tax credit ended, but the reality is the pullbacks have happened", Lester said.
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi in Gdansk, Editing by Louise Heavens)
