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| Portuguese companies found a new love |
Mitsu Outlander PHEV Excels Edition
EV Sales had a great start in Portugal, with 114 registrations, a 256% increase YoY, placing the EV Share above 0.8%, a new all-time record, with the bulk of this growth coming from Plug-In Hybrids, with this technology reaching 68% share, being the first time PHEV's surpassed BEV's in this market.
This shift in buyers tastes is visible in the models ranking, the Mitsu Outlander PHEV started the year in #1, with 37 units, more than double than the sales of the runner-up, the Mercedes C350e, which, by the way, is another Plug-in hybrid...
The first all-electric vehicle comes in Third, with the Nissan Leaf registering 14 units, a somewhat disappointing result that might be explained by Nissan preferring to deliver the 30kWh version in larger markets.
Outside the podium, we have the BMW i3, with 12 units, all being of the BEV variety, followed by two Volvo's, the V60 Plug-In and the XC90 T8, with the swedish brand beating its volume record this month.
In the manufacturers ranking, Mitsubishi (32% Share) started the year in the leadership, followed by Mercedes (17%), this being the highest place for the german brand in the world, with Nissan and Volvo in Third (12%).
| Pl | Portugal | January | 2016 | % | Pl '15 |
| 1 | Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV | 37 | 37 | 32 | 1 |
| 2 | Mercedes C350e e) | 15 | 15 | 13 | 5 |
| 3 4 | Nissan Leaf BMW i3 * | 14 12 | 14 12 | 12 11 | 2 3 |
| 5 6 7 7 9 10 11 12 13 | Volvo V60 Plug-In Volvo XC90 T8 Volkswagen Golf GTE Tesla Model S e) Mercedes B250e Mercedes S500e Porsche Cayenne Plug-In Toyota Prius Plug-In BMW i8 | 8 6 5 5 2 2 2 2 1 | 8 6 5 5 2 2 2 2 1 | 7 54 4 22 2 1 1 | 9 28 11 16 15 20 18 8 20 |
| 13 13 16 | Peugeot iOn Renault Zoe Volkswagen e-Golf | 1 1 1 | 1 1 1 | 1 1 1 | 6 4 16 |
| TOTAL | 114 | 114 | 100 |
Source: ACAP
*`- 12 BEV
EV Distribution - Portugal January 2016
Last May, i made a small study regarding the distribution of EV's in my home country, based on used car websites and other sources, now i have updated it, remember this should only be seen as an indication of how electric vehicles are distributed across the portuguese territory.
For the information to be easier to understand for people not familiar with the local geography, i have divided the country in seven areas: Northwest (Porto, Aveiro, Braga and Viana do Castelo districts), Northeast (Bragança, Vila Real, Guarda and Viseu), Center (Coimbra, Castelo Branco, Leiria and Santarém), Lisbon Metropolitan Area (Lisbon and Setubal), South (Portalegre, Evora, Beja and Faro), Azores and Madeira Islands.
Let's look at the distribution of the sample EV's:
Northwest
Following Lisbon Metropolitan area, this is the second area with most EV's, the Nissan Leaf is by far the most popular model, with 9 units, followed by the I-Miev triplets and Renault Zoe, with 4 units, and a big number of models with 3 units, half of them being of the PHEV variety, like the Volvo V60 Plug-In.
Following Lisbon Metropolitan area, this is the second area with most EV's, the Nissan Leaf is by far the most popular model, with 9 units, followed by the I-Miev triplets and Renault Zoe, with 4 units, and a big number of models with 3 units, half of them being of the PHEV variety, like the Volvo V60 Plug-In.
Northeast
Known for having the harshest conditions for EV's in mainland Portugal, with snow falling cold winters, 30ºC-something summers and lots of big mountains to cross, it would be expected that PHEV's and especially the Outlander PHEV would be popular here, that's not the case, the most common EV is the Nissan Leaf, with 3 units, followed by the Renault Twizy(!), with two units and one Citroen C-Zero.
Center
There isn't a model of preference in this transitional North-South area, with several models collecting 3 units: Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Tesla Model S and Renault Zoe.
Lisbon Metropolitan Area
Lisbon is not only the nation's capital, but also the only place where with no effort you find EV's around the corner, with 40% of the total fleet of EV's being found in this small area. The most common EV is the Nissan Leaf, with 11 units, followed by the Renault Twizy and BMW i3, with 5 units. Lisbon also has the most heterogeneous offer, with 16 models represented, including an imported Think City.
South
In this area most ost EV's are concentrated in the tourist-friendly Algarve, with two Leafs and a number of models in single numbers, like the Renault Zoe, Twizy, Tesla Model S, or the Outlander PHEV.
But the scorching-hot (We are talking of 40ºC-something summers) Beja district also registers two EV's, one Nissan Leaf and a Mitsubishi I-Miev, so the most common EV in the South is the Nissan Leaf, with three units.
Azores and Madeira Islands
There is little info on these markets, there seems to be little reception to EV's, which is a shame, as mild climates and shorter distances are good conditions for plug-ins. Anyway, the most common EV here is the Renault Twizy, with 3 units (2 in Madeira, 1 in Azores), with a BMW i3 founding the way to the Azores (São Miguel Island, to be more precise).
Conclusions
If the Nissan Leaf might be considered a success story across mainland Portugal, there are a couple other cases worthy of mention, unlike what one might think, the Mitsu Outlander PHEV is more popular in the southern areas, where ice and snow are not a problem, Teslas are starting to be scattered across the country, but the reality is that small difusion EV's tend to be concentrated in Lisbon and in the NW (Braga-Porto-Aveiro) industrial belt.
