The evolution of the electric vehicle market in Israel as told by one of our readers, Assaf, in the comments section of an article on the launch of the Leapmotor T03 in Israel makes for some interesting reading. Here’s how Assaf describes the Israeli market.

“Structurally, it is like New Zealand in all imports and relies only on sea freight, except for Israelis with higher incomes and the authorities that discourage it, there is much less used-import action than in NZ. Cheap EVs are mostly a Chinese domain in Israel. First on the ground was the 2020 GAC GE3 SUV, sold for ~130k NIS ($38-40k), and quickly joined and outnumbered the MG ZS. These prices are considered midrange to low – Israeli cars are expensive!

Now here is one of the most interesting parts of his summary of the Israeli market.

“The Chinese EV invasion has forced other importers to stop the ridiculous mark-ups on the EVs they sell in Israel, so now you can get the Zoe for almost the same price, and the Koreans and the Leaf for maybe 20-40k NIS more. Tesla also landed in Israel in 2021 with as much energy as anywhere else, but the same supply and price are out of reach for many.

Assaf said the entry of Chinese EVs into the Israeli market is leading the way to importers of other EVs lowering the price of their EVs. This is something that we will start to see soon in many places around the world as the Chinese EV makers are finally starting to zone the export of their products to more markets as far as as possible. Chinese automakers have been working hard to satisfy domestic demand for EVs in the world’s largest market for the past decade. They are also working hard to continuously improve the range and quality of EVs in the Chinese market. Many of them now have room to export more models, and they seem to want to do it at scale. People outside of China are following with envy all the cool and affordable EVs with excellent range that have been introduced to the Chinese market, and wondering when they will be able to get their hands on them. With major players like SAIC and BYD now aggressively targeting the export market, people outside of China won’t have to wait forever.

As Assaf noted, cheap EVs in Israel are mostly from Chinese automakers. Chinese automakers may just do for the EV sector what Chinese solar panel makers are doing for the solar industry. As Chinese solar panel makers ramp up production of solar panels, prices continue to drop, making solar panels more affordable for many people around the world. Reports say that 10,460 new EVs have been delivered to Israeli customers so far this year (through July 2022). These registrations are 70% higher than the same period last year. Chinese EVs are responsible for a large portion of those sales. The report also states that Geely’s Geometry C is one of the best-selling vehicles so far this year. A look at the sales charts reveals some prominent Chinese models, including models from Geely, MG, Skywell, Maxus, Hongqi, LynkCo, GAC, and DFSK.

The biggest takeaway from all this exciting action is the news that the Geometry C electric car is the best-selling car model in Israel in August! An EV has topped the sales chart in Israel for the first time ever. The demand for EVs is also sky high in many parts of the world. Interest in electric vehicles is growing worldwide despite some of the FUD peddled by some automakers who want to extend the age of the ICE. As cheaper EVs start to arrive around the world, we will see the same trend we saw in Israel, where the wave of competing models with decent range will force suppliers to other models. which will also reduce prices. This will drive demand and increase operational efficiencies with economies of scale as global EV automakers ramp up production, which will encourage more adoption of EVs. In the not too distant future, electric cars will be so commonplace that they will simply be called cars.


 

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