ROME – The car market has not yet emerged from the crisis, but 2021 was a positive year for electric and hybrid cars; according to official data, over 476,000 new vehicles of this type were registered in Italy from January to October, ie 38% of the total cars sold. A real leap forward if we consider that at the beginning of the year there were just over 595,000 electric / hybrid cars on the road.
The growing attention of Italians towards green vehicles is also confirmed by the survey commissioned by Facile.it and MiaCar.it to the mUp Research and Norstat institutes, which revealed that almost 7 out of 10 motorists would buy an electric or hybrid car (67 , 7%); more specifically, 45.1% would opt for a hybrid, while 22.6% would opt for an electric one.
According to the survey, carried out on a representative sample of the national population, the most likely to buy these cars are young people aged between 18 and 24 (79.6%) and motorists residing in the North West regions (69 , 9%).
If we look instead at the sample of those who are against it (11%), it emerges that the percentage is higher among men (13.5%), respondents aged between 35 and 44 years (13.6%) and residents in the North East (13.4%). Still many undecided; more than 1 in 5 motorists (21.3%).
The reasons for yes …
Analyzing the motivations of the more than 23 million Italian motorists willing to buy an electric or hybrid vehicle, it emerges that 74.8% would do so to personally contribute to the reduction of pollution, a percentage that even reaches 82.9% among the under 25.
Many, 45.1%, would choose a green car to save on fuel, while 19.8% to have fewer traffic restrictions being able, for example, to access the Ztl areas as allowed in some Italian cities.
Finally, among the most common reasons for buying a vehicle with low environmental impact, indicated by almost 1 in 3 motorists, there is the fear that diesel and petrol cars will soon no longer be able to circulate.
… and those of no
The investigation then investigated the reasons why more than eleven million Italian motorists have declared themselves against, or in any case still have many doubts, about the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles.
The biggest obstacle appears to be the price (68.1%); 43% said they did not want to buy an electric / hybrid car due to the low number of recharging points on the Italian territory, while 40% said they did not want to buy an electric / hybrid car due to the low range.
The incentives and the spending budget
Incentives have played a key role in supporting the sale of electric and hybrid vehicles. It must be said, however, that Italians seem to be, at least on paper, in favor of buying green cars regardless of the presence of state contributions.
When asked “if there were no government bonuses, would you still buy an electric or hybrid car?” 69.8% of the respondents answered affirmatively, a percentage that reaches 84.3% among the under 25s.
A positive fact that however risks clashing with reality and, once again, with the cost of these vehicles if we consider that the survey showed that, for the purchase of an electric or hybrid car, Italians are willing to spend, on average, 17,969 euros and almost 1 in 2 would not budget more than 15 thousand euros.
Without the help of incentives, it is difficult to find hybrid vehicles in this price range, a mission that becomes practically impossible for 100% electric ones.
The map of electric and hybrid cars in Italy
According to ACI data, at the beginning of the year there were 595,807 electric and hybrid cars registered in the registers of the motorization, i.e. 1.50% of the total. Hybrid vehicles (542,728) led the ranking, while electric ones were 53,079.
At a territorial level, the regions with the greatest penetration of green cars were Lombardy (where electric / hybrid cars represented 2.49% of the regional car fleet), Trentino-Alto Adige (2.45%) and Emilia -Romagna (2.14%). Those with lower penetration, on the other hand, were Campania (0.41%), Calabria (0.47%) and Sicily (0.49%).
In absolute values, the national ranking always saw Lombardy in first place (155,299 electric and hybrid cars) followed this time by Lazio (73,847) and Veneto (64,264).
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