Number of electric vehicles in use by country 2021
In 2021, China's plug-in electric vehicle fleet reached around 7.8 million units. The second-ranked United States had approximately 2.1 million battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in use that same year.
Incentives to the shift toward electric vehicles
Propelled by falling lithium-ion battery pack costs, electric vehicle sales have steadily risen over the past decade. Worldwide electric car sales are estimated to be just under seven million units in 2021, with forecasts up to 2050 recording a tremendous increase in the share of electric vehicles as a percentage of the new car sales market,up to over 80 percent. The incentives to increase the production and diversity of electric vehicles are not only based on this increase in sales volume. Passenger cars make up over 40 percent of the transportation sector carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, a share which grows to over 60 percent of these emissions when including medium and heavy trucks. Government agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States, are increasingly beginning to introduce limits on carbon dioxide emissions. Automakers are expected to be penalized if they fail to meet these limits.
Trends in the Chinese market
In 2021, China ranked the highest overall in the e-mobility index, along with Germany and France. Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) have always been more popular than Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) in the Chinese market, with an annual sales volume of 2.9 million and 0.6 million units, respectively, in 2021, and accordingly a yearly production volume of just over 3.5 million and 0.6 million units. In that same year, the SAIC-General Motors-Wuling joint venture was the best-selling BEV brand in the country, followed by Tesla and BYD. Tesla was the market leader in electric vehicle sales worldwide.
Incentives to the shift toward electric vehicles
Propelled by falling lithium-ion battery pack costs, electric vehicle sales have steadily risen over the past decade. Worldwide electric car sales are estimated to be just under seven million units in 2021, with forecasts up to 2050 recording a tremendous increase in the share of electric vehicles as a percentage of the new car sales market,up to over 80 percent. The incentives to increase the production and diversity of electric vehicles are not only based on this increase in sales volume. Passenger cars make up over 40 percent of the transportation sector carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, a share which grows to over 60 percent of these emissions when including medium and heavy trucks. Government agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States, are increasingly beginning to introduce limits on carbon dioxide emissions. Automakers are expected to be penalized if they fail to meet these limits.
Trends in the Chinese market
In 2021, China ranked the highest overall in the e-mobility index, along with Germany and France. Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) have always been more popular than Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) in the Chinese market, with an annual sales volume of 2.9 million and 0.6 million units, respectively, in 2021, and accordingly a yearly production volume of just over 3.5 million and 0.6 million units. In that same year, the SAIC-General Motors-Wuling joint venture was the best-selling BEV brand in the country, followed by Tesla and BYD. Tesla was the market leader in electric vehicle sales worldwide.
