Half of this year has passed. Despite the poor performance of the global car market, the BEV market still maintains fast and steady growth. Since the second quarter report has yet to be disclosed, let’s take a closer look at the first quarter: BEV sales have surpassed 1.5 million units globally, making up around 10% market share. Compared with last year’s sales recording 7%, this is a significant increase. ( In the next quarter, BEVs are believed to gain more market share.) The global BEV car parc, totaling till June, is estimated to reach 15 million units. As for Taiwan’s local market, with 5.8k sales in the first two quarters, BEVs only make up 2.9% market share, bringing BEV car parc to roughly 20k units. This is why “Taiwan is falling behind in the world of EVs.” Having said that, order placements were in a pretty good shape for the newly launched models in the past few months, showing that Taiwanese consumers are willing to embrace the transformation from internal-combustion-engine (ICE) cars to EVs. But the actual number of deals closing ratio is under expectation. There are two main reasons: insufficient supply from carmakers and the challenge of installing a home charger, both of which reflect the hidden concerns of the Taiwanese car market…
- Insufficient supply from carmakers
In the past year or so, imported brands started to introduce the latest EV models but with quota limits, which are often unable to meet ordering demands. As far as I know, the supply of numerous EV models cannot keep up with their orders taken, even until next year. Understandably many have canceled their orders, also it doesn’t include those giving up to place the order due to endless wait. The situation shows where the Taiwanese market sits in the global strategies of these imported brands. It is fair to say that when the new models are coming in the future, Taiwan will still be prioritized behind other developed countries or primary markets. I believe this situation will be even worse than ICE car supplies, due to the unstable supply at the beginning of the EV era. For carmakers, sacrificing the secondary market to provide for the primary market is something reasonable.
- The challenge of installing home chargers
Unlike western countries, in Taiwan and other Asian countries, most consumers live in apartment buildings despite the affordability to own a car. Unless the newly-built building is reserved wiring for the chargers in the parking lot, it is nearly impossible to have the building committee and residents' concurrence to install EV chargers, contributing to the high proportion of canceled orders compared to ICE cars.
Viewing from different angles, we could think of solutions for the former situations…
- Self-design & produce domestic BEVs
From more than 10 years ago, Yulon had started the design and development works of EVs; as a project leader in a car company, I have ever led a staff group of a German carmaker to pay an on-site visit to that EV model. As time flies, Taiwan still doesn’t have any plans for EV mass production, yet the German automaker already started BEV manufacturing a few years ago, which was still at the schematic stage back then. Even with many suppliers following Foxconn’s full plunge into the EV industry, Taiwanese EVs won’t go into mass production until next year. Besides, as an ODM company, local car brands are still responsible for Foxconn EV’s brand ethos and operation. To all professionals in the industry and car enthusiasts, let’s see what the next 12 months hold for us. As for other traditional carmakers (mostly Taiwanese OEM manufacturers), a transformation for the future is imminent.
- Widely deploy charging infrastructure (for both fast and slow charging)
Home charging is the most convenient charging solution: it uses residential electricity (which is cheaper) and can operate at off-peak rate (during the night time). However, when many EV owners cannot install home chargers, the convenience of public charging becomes very important. Due to limitations of the current battery technology, slow charging takes a very long time for full-charge, yet should be widely deployed in parking lots, thanks to its low charging fee. Fast charging, on the other hand, is better suited for emergencies because of its high charging fee. Moreover, fast charging fee may be getting higher and as expensive as fuel prices in the future, owing to the high-voltage power consumption from industrial grids. It’s a harsh reality Taipower and the Taiwanese government must face urgently: the electricity price and its operating capacity.