This month, the deliveries of the electric vehicle crossed the threshold of ten thousand units for the first time with approximately 10,460 vehicles delivered to customers from the beginning of the year until yesterday. This is an increase of about 70% compared to the same period last year. In the month of July alone, almost 1,100 electric vehicles have been delivered so far, despite the general shortage and waiting lists. The delivery table in the electric vehicle segment is led so far by GEELY with 2,624 vehicles, followed by Tesla’s Model 3 with 1,949 vehicles, Hyundai Ioniq 5 with 1,433 vehicles and Hyundai Kona with 644 vehicles.
And this is probably just the beginning. In August, the onslaught of Chinese-made electric vehicles on the Israeli market is expected to reach its peak. In the last two weeks, three ships with over 3,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles left the ports in China for Israel, which are supposed to land in Israel by the end of August.
Among other things, this year’s largest shipment of the GEELY brand, with over 1200 vehicles, will arrive in Israel in August. A similar shipment of the brand is expected to arrive in September as well.
At the same time, two shipments of the AIWAYS electric recreational vehicle will arrive in Israel in the coming month that left China on July 11 and July 24 and include a total of 522 vehicles, the largest shipment of the Chinese brand in the past year. The SKYWELL brand also expects to ship several hundred units during August. The record is expected to be broken by Tesla, which expects to receive over 2,000 vehicles from the Tesla factory in Shanghai in the coming weeks, which may arrive in more than one ship. Lubinski, the importer of the Chinese brand MG, is also expecting a large shipment of the EHS plug-in model.
WM MOTOR: The new Chinese electric car that is being made
These deliveries are expected to be joined for the first time by a new brand from China, the electric vehicle manufacturer WM MOTOR. The brand’s main electric recreational vehicle, EX5, is currently completing full European approval (WVTA) and in the coming weeks the first vehicles will land in Israel for approval and demonstration, with a commercial shipment of hundreds of vehicles expected to land in Israel in the last quarter of the year.
WM’s electric crossover will arrive in Israel before the end of the year / photo: Yeh’ach
The first vehicle of the brand to land in Israel, EX5, is 4.58 m long with a 2.7 m long wheelbase. It will come with a battery of about 70 kWh and a range of 420-440 km in WLTP. The vehicle will come with a particularly high level of equipment and will include a comprehensive set of active safety systems (ADAS). The target price of the EX5 will be around NIS 180,000. The vehicle will be marketed directly by the importer EV MOTOR and at the same time by the “Eldan” leasing company with which the importer has signed a strategic marketing agreement. The importer estimates that the second and larger model of the brand, W6, will also receive full European approval this year. It should be noted that Israel It will be WM MOTOR’s first western export market that will precede the penetration of the brand into all of Europe.
It should be noted that even in the months of September, October and November, more shipments are expected to arrive in Israel, including thousands of electric vehicles made in China, for which private customers and fleets in Israel have been waiting for over seven months.
The big “wave” is partly due to the advance of imports in preparation for the increase in the purchase tax on electric vehicles this January from 10% to 20%, which is expected to make electric vehicles more expensive at a significant rate. In addition, the importers predict that if the shekel remains at its current level against the dollar, an additional increase in the price of Chinese-made electric vehicles is expected in the coming months due to the fact that the dollar is the preferred export currency of almost the entire Chinese automobile industry. The industry notes that the institutional orders of fleets for electric vehicles in Israel have reached a peak in recent months due to the spike in fuel prices.
It should be noted that the significant inventory allocations to Israel are unusual on an international scale due to the fact that most manufacturers are currently postponing the export of vehicles to the West for weeks to months compared to what was planned due to the excess demand in the Chinese automobile market. The upcoming deliveries are expected to significantly increase the market share of electric vehicles this year, which in the months of January-June was about 6%.