IGO suspends annual dividends from Tianqi JV amid market downturn
The JV experienced a build in lithium hydroxide inventory at Kwinana over recent months.
In September Norwegians swung strongly for electric vehicles and gave zero-emission vehicles a 45% market share, says Advisory Council of Veitrafikken AS (in Norwegian).
There were 4,810 passenger plug-in cars registered in Norway last month, up 25% from a year ago. With more electric vehicles sold, average CO2 emissions per vehicle declined to 55 g/km, a 21% drop from a year ago.
Consumers appear to trust all-electric vehicles. Hybrid car sales declined 34% from a year ago and only sold 2,779 units.
Major car manufacturers are all rushing into the electric vehicle space. Mercedes Benz invested $12 billion in the space, says Bloomberg, and will be introducing luxury plug-in SUVs and passenger cars.
Norway matches broader trends in the auto industry. New car sales are swinging to electric, reports Bloomberg.
Looking at four major markets — China, Europe, Japan and North America — vehicle sales in the 12 months ending in June increased by about 1.15 million units, year over year. Of that, about 565,000 were electric vehicles. In other words, almost half the growth in the overall car market was taken by the plug-ins.
That surge in the share of growth is, in part, a cyclical phenomenon. Growth in vehicle sales for these four markets was running at about 3 to 4 million a year in 2015 and 2016, but that slowed dramatically to an annual run rate of about 1.2 million since the start of 2017.
Creative commons image of taxi driver and his cab courtesy of Municipal Archives of Trondheim. The “ballon” on the roof is a container for gas, which was used instead of petrol during WWI and a couple of years later. Cabdriver is car owner Isak Garmo.
4 Comments
SeatrendStrategy
If I gave lollipops and cookies to my kids, they’d also do what I ask. The article is misleading as it doesn’t discuss the lollipops and cookies being provided by the Norwegian government to induce electric vehicle purchases including: exemptions from all non-recurring vehicle fees, including purchase taxes, which are extremely high for ordinary cars, and 25% VAT on the vehicle’s purchase. Also, electric vehicles are exempt from the annual road tax, all public parking fees, and toll payments, as well as being able to use bus lanes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicles_in_Norway
Robert Hawkins
So they are demonstrating a commitment to taking their country in a new and arguably more beneficial direction. Perhaps Canada could take the example and increase our incentives to switch to EVs.
Kjell Bergh
There is also one constant incentive to switch: In Norway, gasoline is nearly four times as much per gallon as we pay in the United States.
On a related issue, despite the impressive switch to PHEV and EV which obviously makes for enormous strides towards tailpipe emissions reductions, it is not just about that: Oslo city government has staked out a course to push automobiles out of downtown Oslo. Period.
Mike I
It only shows how degenerate governments could be in ripping money off people. A free person — that is the natural person — cannot be encumbered in his/her desire to go wherever he/she wishes. No fees or physical barriers can be erected.