Adoption of electric vehicles in CEE falls behind the EU

On the radar

• Lorem Trade deficit in Slovenia landed at EUR -0.644 billion in June.

• Trade balance in Hungary came at EUR 1.1bn surplus.

• Retail sales (excluding cars) in Czechia arrived at 4.4% y/y in June.

Economic developments

In 2023, 1.5 million new battery-only electric passenger cars were registered in the EU, bringing the total number to 4.5 million. This represents a 48.5% increase compared with 2022 when the total number was 3.0 million. The share of battery-only electric cars among new registrations reached 14.6% in 2023 up from 1% in 2018. This marks a continuation of the rapid increase in the adoption of electric vehicles in the EU. Looking across the region, the highest share of new zero-emission vehicles in all new vehicles is in Romania and reached 10.6% in 2023. The lowest share, below 3% in 2023 was registered in Croatia and Slovakia. In the whole region, the average was at 5.4% in 2023. However, when it comes to the stock of passenger cars, on 31 December 2023, battery-only electric cars accounted for 1.7% of all cars in the EU, with noticeable variations among EU countries.

Market developments

Over last week, the Czech koruna remained stable against the euro while the Hungarian forint and the Polish zloty have gone in the other direction. The Hungarian forint’s losses were more extensive than the Polish zloty’s. Long-term interest rates have declined over the last week. The drop was quite substantial and reached as much as 50bp in Poland and Hungary and 20bp in Romania, Czechia and Slovakia. We link such development to Powell’s statement during the press conference, where there were clear indications for a rate cut in September. This week, we have two central bank meetings scheduled. On Wednesday, the Romanian National Bank is expected to lower the key interest rate, and the following day the Serbian central bank should ease monetary conditions as well.

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