Global EV sales back on track

About 2.65 million new EVs found new owners during the first half of 2021, 168% up compared to 2020.

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, global sales of EVs stayed 14 % below 2019 H1 volumes as vehicle markets declined by 28 % during 2020 H1, EV-Volumes reports.

The market recovery shaped up in 2020 H2 with rapid gains in volumes and shares for EVS, especially in Europe, driven by attractive products, extensive green recovery funds and the 95g CO2 mandate, it says.

For 2021, all regions and most countries saw strong increases in EV sales, with growth rates three to eight times higher than for total light vehicle markets.

The share of battery electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) in global light vehicle sales increased from 3% in 2020 H1 to 6.3 % this year.

Europe leads with 14% EV share for the first six months combined, up from 7% a year ago. A caveat is that half of Europe’s EV sales are PHEVs, compared to 80% pure electric outside Europe, EV-Volumes states.

“The tailpipe emissions of PHEVs depend on the charging and driving habits of their users, whatever the catalogue value says. To their benefit it can be said that countries with high PHEV market shares usually have high BEV market shares as well.”

Tesla leads global EV sales with 386,000 units (all BEVs) delivered during H1, followed by the Volkswagen Group with 332,000 units (172,700 BEVs and 159,400 PHEVs).

General Motors (GM) is third with 227,000 units (221,000 of which were BEVs), including more than 180,000 mini-EVs from its SGMW joint venture in China, EV-Volumes adds.

It explains growth was robust in all product segments except for sportscars.

“In the product segment mix, the trend is from sedans and compacts into SUVs. Most striking, though, is the re-bound of mini-EVs in China, now at ultra-affordable prices of 30-60 000 RMB. “Around 300 000 units of them were sold during H1, a quarter of all NEV sales in China.”

EV-Volumes expects sales of 6.4 million EVs in 2021, a growth of 98% over 2020, with BEVs reaching four million units and PHEVs 2.4 million units.

“By the end of 2021 we expect over 16 million EVs in operation, counting light vehicles, two-thirds BEVs and one-third PHEVs.”