The slowdown in car sales on the one hand (-9%), with those full electric down by 27%, and a boom in electric two-wheelers (+59%) on the other. It is the photograph of Italy in 2022 that emerges from the seventh edition of the study Sustainable mobility and electric vehicles published by Repower, a group active in the energy and sustainable mobility sector.
The energy crisis has contributed to the slowdown in the automotive sector, especially in Italy: the trend of the last two years continues, with red numbers for registrations: according to Motus-E data, 1,316,702 units were registered in 2022, with a a drop of 9.7% on 2021 and 31.3% on 2019. At the end of the year, however, growth was recorded (+21% December 2022 on December 2021) “which bodes well, despite the problems that made 2022 a a truly complex year on several fronts: from the shortage and rise in raw materials, to the high inflation caused by the conflict in Ukraine up to the rise in energy prices, true optimism is still not possible and forecasts remain uncertain.
Electric cars are falling
It was not only the internal combustion vehicle market that suffered in 2022, but also the electric one: in fact, for months now Italy has been the rear light in Europe on the registrations of electric vehicles, with 49,058 full electric cars sold, (- 27.1% compared to 2021), a total of 171,196 cars on the road, 3.7% in terms of market share. “This is because in our country there is not yet a clear direction and effective political planning in favor of electric, and Italy is less and less attractive for electric car manufacturers”, reads the study. According to Unrae data, however, there are 128,301 new registrations in January 2023, or +19% compared to the same month in 2022.
In terms of power supplies, petrol cars recorded a +14.4% compared to January 2022, while diesels grew by 18.1%, electrified cars by +19%. Among these, non-rechargeable hybrids (mild and full hybrids) increased by 23.5%, plug-ins grew by 9.2% and for fully electric cars, on the other hand, the negative trend continued with -11.2% . Finally, LPG cars grew by 28.7%, while registrations of methane cars dropped (-79.7%).
Rechargeable columns are growing
The data from the charging infrastructure in our country is also good: again according to Motus-E data, in fact, the infrastructure has grown by 10,748 new points, of which 3,996 in the last three months alone, recording a +41 at the end of 2022 % growth compared to 2021. Of the new installations, 27% concerned high-power columns which, in addition to growing in absolute value, gained weight on the national grid: direct current points went from 6% in 2021 to 12 % of 2022.