Nearly 88% of EVs sold globally were in the four largest light-duty vehicle markets, with China, Europe, US and India together accounting for over 60% LDV sales worldwide
Governments across the globe have been pushing clean mobility solutions, including electric vehicles, owing to growing impacts of climate change and increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The road transport sector remains one of the most significant contributors to these emissions.
Due to the efforts of multiple central and state governments and because of the rising environmental consciousness, the adoption of EVs, especially the light-duty electric vehicles, has witnessed a consistent uptake worldwide. In 2023, around 88% of EVs sold globally were in the four largest LDV markets, with China, Europe, United States and India together accounting for around 63% sales worldwide.
In 2023, China remained the world’s largest EV market. It sold over 7 million EVs , grabbing a 33% share in the worldwide sales of new LDVs. This was a nine-percentage point increase from the 24% EV sales share in 2022, according to a research brief of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). In contrast, Europe EVs remained steady at 21% of all new LDVs sold in 2023, EV sales grew to 9% of all new LDVs in 2023, from 7% in 2022 in the United States. For India, the share of electric vehicle sales continued on its growth trajectory at 2% in 2023 from 1% the previous year.
China also dominated the flow of global production and sales in 2023, leading with approximately 66% of global EV production in 2023, followed by Europe (22%) and the United States (10%). The brief said, “about 90% of electric LDVs produced in China, 85% of those produced in Europe, and 81% of those produced in the United States were sold domestically. Only a small number of EVs were produced in India in 2023.”
Fig 1: Electric vehicles charging. Image by Getty
Light-Duty Electric Vehicle Sales In India
Breaking previous records , close to 102,000 EVs were sold in India In 2023, which was double the total of sales the previous year. in 2022. EVs accounted for 2% of the country’s LDV market. The ICCT brief said almost all the Original Equipment Manufacturers managed to increase their sales in India in 2023. MG’s EV sales share grew from 9% in 2022 to 23% in 2023 followed closely by Stellantis at 15%, despite accounting for a very small percentage of the overall LDV market.
Tata Motors recorded an EV sales share of nearly 10% but accounted for 68% of India’s light duty EV sales, a decrease from 83% in 2022. “This drop was primarily due to the increasing number of EVs from other brands, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, BYD, and smaller manufacturers such as PMV Electric (maker of India’s popular two-seater microcar),” the brief said.
Mahindra, the third-leading LDV seller in 2023, also managed to increase its EV sales in 2023. However, India’s largest automaker Suzuki accounted for 37% of the country’s LDV market but sold no EVs in 2023.
Interestingly, most of the EVs sold in India were Battery Electric Vehicles. Although Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles have made its foray into India, it accounted for approximately 0.2% of total EV sales, comprising mostly to luxury brands that are priced much higher, thus restricting its adoption among common masses.
The adoption trajectory of BEVs in India has been consistently going up. “Its future trajectory will depend in part on two upcoming policies: the third phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme and the next phase of India’s fuel consumption standards.
“In addition, in March 2024, India announced a large reduction of the import duty on EVs for automakers that commit to invest a minimum of approximately USD $500 million in India’s domestic manufacturing within the next 3 years. This policy will likely affect sales by non-domestic brands in the coming years,” said the brief.
Fig 2: A parking lot of predominantly new Tesla Model 3 electric vehicles in Richmond, California, U.S. Image by Stephen Lam | Reuters
Light-Duty Electric Vehicle Sales in Prominent Global Markets
China
In 2023, around 7.5 million new electric LDVs were sold in China, representing 33% of new LDV sales in the country. Leading from the front, BYD accounted for nearly one third of all LDV sales. Among legacy automakers, Geely led with nearly 34% of its LDV sales being EVs, a 13-percentage point increase from 2022.
Among China’s 12 major LDV manufacturers, nine showed an increase in their EV sales share between 2022 and 2023. Geely along with GAC Group and Great Wall grew the fastest, with 13- and 12-percentage point increases over 2022, respectively. Here as well, BEVs remained dominant, making up 68% of EVs sold in 2023.
United States
Marking the first year in which sales surpassed 1 million, approximately 1.4 million EVs were sold in the US market in 2023. This accounted for nearly 9% of new LDVs sold in 2023, a 2-percentage point increase over 2022. Following Tesla, Volvo had the second highest EV sales share (34%), followed by Europe-based manufacturers BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and VW Group (19%, 12%, and 11%, respectively).
“The top three manufacturers by LDV sales (GM, Toyota, and Ford) saw moderate EV sales share increases. However, their shares remained low, at 3%, 3%, and 4%, respectively,” the ICCT brief said. EV sales of smaller manufacturers, however, rose to nearly 94%, as all-electric manufacturers such as Rivian and Lucid continued to expand and newer companies such as the US-based GEM and GM subsidiary BrightDrop and Vietnam-based VinFast entered the market in 2023.
Europe
Despite being a huge market, approximately 21% of LDVs sold in Europe in 2023 were electric, unchanged from the previous year. Automakers like Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz had higher EV sales shares than in 2022. “BMW and Mercedes-Benz saw slight increases in light-duty EV sales shares, to approximately 35% and 31%, respectively, with BEVs accounting for over half of each manufacturer’s sales,” it said.
The brief highlights that eight of the remaining manufacturers, including those with higher LDV market shares such as VW Group and Renault, saw drops in EV sales shares. “The sharp decrease in EV sales share for Mitsubishi was largely due to the drop in sales of one of their two PHEV models, the Eclipse Cross. However, smaller manufacturers, grouped as “Others” in this briefing, increased their collective EV sales share to 39%, from 23% in 2022,” it added.
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