Electric cars have delivery problems across the board

Mayor carmakers are experiencing problems to deliver their few electric car models to a fast growing customer base. In some houses, wait times are up to a year for both domestic producers and suppliers as well as importers in Germany, a new survey reveals.

First Tesla, than Smart and VW – it appears carmakers have a hard time catching up with the demand for their few electric cars. A survey by Automobilwoche reveals waiting times for up to a year for Hyundai’s Ioniq EV.

Even more experienced electric carmakers such as Renault are facing wait times in Germany of about 4 months. Delivery times for the Peugeot Ion range around half a year, the same goes for Kia’s Soul EV. BMW is among the “fastest” with the i3 being send out within 2 to 3 months.

A spokesperson for Hyundai told Automobilwoche that they were “surprised” by the demand for “electro”.

Smart CEO Annette Winkler speaks of a similar scenario, saying “the rise in demand develops much stronger and faster then we could have expected and planned for with our suppliers,” and so some Smart ED will not reach their new owners’ garages before the beginning of 2019.

Reportedly, the current electric Smart model has been more often ordered within the last six months than its predecessor in the years 2013 and 2014 together and Winkler says that they are working hard to ramp up production.

The situation at volume carmakers sich as Volkswagen does not look much better. Buyers of the e-Golf may wait until October, despite VW having introduced a second shift at its facility in Dresden, according to the report by Automobilwoche. For the e-Up, wait times are 5 – 6 months.

It is not only private clients but corporate fleets as well that have to wait. SAP Manager Marcus Wagner, whose company is working to electrify its entire fleet, states that it has become almost impossible to buy an electric car during this February.

Once again it has become apparent, that electric transport is not lacking demand but supply.

Update: For Nissan, the Automobilwoche survey had reported delays of up to ten months for the Leaf in Germany. According to Gareth Dunsmore, Electric Vehicle Divisional General Manager at Nissan Europe SAS however, “production of the New LEAF started on time and deliveries are now already underway.” Dunsmore had commented on our article post on LinkedIn.

automobilwoche.de (Paywall, in German)