Global electric car sales set to grow 14 million this year
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Although electric car sales are concentrated in a few markets, India, Indonesia, and Thailand were among the countries recording significant growth last year.
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Tesla Model X electric cars recharge their batteries in Berlin, Germany, November 13, 2019. (Reuters)
Electric car sales are expected to increase by 35% this year to 14 million, increasing their proportion of the global auto industry to 18%, according to a new estimate released Wednesday by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
According to the IEA's annual Global Electric Vehicle Outlook study, more than 10 million electric cars will be sold globally in 2022, a 55% increase over the previous year.
The rapid expansion increased electric cars' proportion of the global automobile market to 14% last year, up from 9% in 2021 and 4% in 2020.
Following last year's unprecedented spike, the total number of electric vehicles on the road hit 26 million.
For the seventh time this year, Tesla reduced prices in the United States by between 2% and over 6%.Â
In the report IEA report, Executive Director Fatih Birol stated that "electric vehicles are one of the driving forces in the new global energy economy that is rapidly emerging and they are bringing about a historic transformation of the car manufacturing industry worldwide."
"The trends we are witnessing have significant implications for global oil demand. The internal combustion engine has gone unrivaled for over a century, but electric vehicles are changing the status quo. By 2030, they will avoid the need for at least 5 million barrels a day of oil. Cars are just the first wave: electric buses and trucks will follow soon."
According to data, the bulk of electric car sales to date have been focused in China, Europe, and the United States.
Last year, China accounted for over 60% of worldwide electric car sales and more than 50% of all-electric cars on the world's roads, with a total of 13.8 million.
"This strong growth results from more than a decade of sustained policy support for early adopters, including an extension of purchase incentives initially planned for phase-out in 2020 to the end of 2022 due to COVID-19, in addition to non-financial support such as rapid roll-out of charging infrastructure and stringent registration policies for non-electric cars," detailed the IEA.
Electric car sales in China hit 29% of total domestic automobile sales last year, up from 16% in 2021.
Europe and the United States account for 35% of new electric vehicle sales.
After China, Europe remained the world's second-largest electric car market, accounting for 25% of total electric car sales in 2022 and 30% of worldwide stock.
Germany had the most new electric car registrations in Europe in 2022, with 830,000, followed by the United Kingdom (370,000) and France (330,000). Over 80,000 new electric vehicles were registered in Spain.
However, electric car sales in Italy plummeted to 115,000 in 2021 from 140,000 in 2018, while they also dipped or remained stagnant in Austria, Denmark, and Finland.
New electric car sales in the US have surpassed one million, accounting for 10% of the worldwide sales increase. The entire stock of electric vehicles in the US surpassed 3 million, with electric car sales accounting for 8% of total car sales in 2022.
Despite the fact that electric vehicle sales are concentrated in a few areas, India, Indonesia, and Thailand were among the nations that had considerable increases last year.
In 2022, Turkey had around 7,500 new electric car registrations, nearly tripling sales in 2021.
Following last year's growth, the country's total electric car stock reached over 16,000 units. In 2022, the share of electric cars in Turkey's overall car market was 1%.
