Via EUREC Members, ZSW
Growth continues to pick up steam / German manufacturers in the top 10
The number of electric cars worldwide had risen to 5.6 million in early 2019, up 64 percent from previous year. This is the second year running to see such accelerated growth. China and the USA, the biggest markets, are propelling this steep growth. China remains the undisputed global leader with a total of 2.6 million e-cars. It is followed by the USA with 1.1 million e-cars. Just short of 142,000 electric vehicles are now rolling on Germany’s roads. The new figures are sourced from a recent survey conducted by the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW). According to its scientists, Tesla accounts for the largest number of newly registered vehicles, nearly 234,000, followed by the Chinese brands BYD and BAIC.
The most successful German manufacturer was BMW, taking sixth place with close to 87,000 electric cars, followed by VW in ninth place.
These and many other facts and figures on electric vehicles are available here
It was a record-setting year for first-time registrations with more than 2.2 million registered worldwide in 2018, a remarkable 75 percent increase. This growth spurt also carried over from the previous year.
Top-ranked China doubles its fleet, USA at no. 2
Electric mobility is developing very dynamically in many countries, and particularly so in China. It is the leader in terms of both the total vehicle count and new registrations with 2,610,000 e-cars motoring on the country’s roads. The fleet practically doubled last year with 1,256,000 new registrations. The USA is once again in second place with 1,102,450 e-cars, including the 361,310 cars newly registered in 2018. Norway took third place with 86,340 new registrations in 2018, bringing its total to 298,210 electric automobiles. Every other new passenger car – or more accurately, 51 percent – in Norway is electrically powered, a figure unrivalled anywhere in the world. By comparison, the share of electric cars in all new registrations is around five percent in China, and just two in the USA.
The baseline – vehicles recharged with electrical power
ZSW’s scientists counted only those passenger cars and light commercial vehicles with battery-powered electric drives, range extenders and plug-in hybrids; that is, all vehicles that are charged with electrical power. They did not count full and mild hybrids and vehicles equipped with fuel cell technology. There so few of the latter on the road that reliable statistics have yet to be available. This assessment is based on data from the German Federal Motor Transport Authority, government agencies and NGOs abroad, and other sources.