China leads the world on electric cars, but Europe registers highest sales in 2020: Global e-mobility ranking

The first ever such ranking shows that global electric car fleet has expanded by more than 550% since 2015

The past decade has seen growing acceptance of electric vehicles all around the world. Automobile players are increasingly venturing into this market which was once dominated by just a few prominent players such as Tesla and BYD. With the public warming up to an electric mobility future, government plans to ramp up charging infrastructure and bring down EV costs have been met with greater enthusiasm.

The Munich Mobility Show undertook the first ever ranking of developments in e-mobility around the world, centred around the electric car market. They analysed global EV registrations to identify which countries are driving the e-mobility shift, how are markets worldwide developing, and where are the biggest changes taking place.

Here are the top findings:

Where in the world are the most electric cars on the road?

• The world now has nearly 10 million EVs, with China leading the market at 4.2 million, followed by Europe at 3.2 million and the United States at 1.7 million. More than 40% of the world’s EVs are driven on Chinese roads.

• Among European countries, Germany has the 4^th highest EVs in the world, at 702,981, followed by the UK, Normal and France. Collectively, the four European countries – Germany, the UK, Norway and France, account for more than half the vehicles currently on the roads in the European market.

Where is the highest market share of EVs in the world?  

• Norway has the highest percentage of electric vehicles within the automotive space i.e. 74.8% of total registered vehicles are electric. In fact, it leads the world with 81 EVs per 1,000 people. Iceland and Sweden follow with 44.6% and 32.1% market share held by EVs.

• While the US occupies the third position in number of EVs, their market share is as low as 2.1%. Denmark, Switzerland, Germany and Portugal are among other countries with EV market shares less than 16%.

Which countries showed strong growth in 2020 despite the pandemic?

• Europe registered the most new electric cars in 2020, with a total of 1,368,167 vehicles. As a result, it overtook China for the first time, which registered 1,246,289 cars. In percentage terms, European markets did tremendously well in 2020.

• Compared to 2019, Germany’s registered EVs increased by 263%, followed closely by Italy at 247% and Denmark at 246%. France came next with 202% while the UK recorded a growth of 143%. Europe’s growth has been almost 5 times due to high subsidies. Surprisingly in China, growth was only 15%.