Electric car use by country

For the more general category of electric drive for all type of vehicles, see electric vehicle. For the specific electric drive cars, see electric car and plug-in electric vehicle.

Global top-selling light-duty plug-in electric vehicle regional or country markets as of December 2021
Comparison of plug-in electric car ownership per capita in selected top selling countries and regional markets as plug-in cars per 1,000 people, as of December 2021

Electric car use by country varies worldwide, as the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles is affected by consumer demand, market prices, availability of charging infrastructure, and government policies, such as purchase incentives and long term regulatory signals (ZEV mandates, CO2 emissions regulations, fuel economy standards, and phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles).[1]

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are generally divided into all-electric or battery electric vehicles (BEVs), that run only on batteries, and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), that combine battery power with internal combustion engines. The popularity of electric vehicles has been expanding rapidly due to government subsidies, improving charging infrastructure, their increasing range and lower battery costs, and environmental sensitivity. However, the stock of plug-in electric cars represented just 1% of all passengers vehicles on the world's roads by the end of 2020, of which pure electrics constituted two-thirds.[2]

Global cumulative sales of highway-legal light-duty plug-in electric vehicles reached 1 million units in September 2015,[3] 5 million in December 2018,[4] and passed the 10 million milestone in 2020.[5] By mid-2022, there were over 20 million light-duty plug-in vehicles on the world's roads.[6] Sales of plug-in passenger cars achieved a 9% global market share of new car sales in 2021, up from 4.6% in 2020, and 2.5% in 2019.[2][7][8] The PEV market has been shifting towards fully electric battery vehicles. The global ratio between BEVs and PHEVs went from 56:44 in 2012, to 60:40 in 2015, and rose to 74:26 in 2019.[9][10] The ratio was to 71:29 in 2021.[11]

As of December 2023, China had the largest stock of highway legal plug-in passenger cars with 20.4 million units, almost half of the global fleet in use.[12] China also dominates the plug-in light commercial vehicle and electric bus deployment, with its stock reaching over 500,000 buses in 2019, 98% of the global stock, and 247,500 electric light commercial vehicles, 65% of the global fleet.[1]

Europe had about 11.8 million plug-in passenger cars at the end of 2023, accounting for around 30% of the global stock.[13][14] Europe also has the world's second largest electric light commercial vehicle stock, with about 290,000 vans.[13][1][15] As of December 2023, cumulative sales in the United States totaled 4.74 million plug-in cars since 2010,[16] with California listed as the largest U.S. plug-in regional market with 1.77 million plug-in cars sold by 2023.[17]

As of December 2021, Germany is the leading European country with 1.38 million plug-in cars registered since 2010.[18][19] Norway has the highest market penetration per capita in the world,[20] and also has the world's largest plug-in segment market share of new car sales, 86.2% in 2021.[21] Over 10% of all passenger cars on Norwegian roads were plug-ins in October 2018, and rose to 22% in 2021.[22][23] The Netherlands has the highest density of EV charging stations in the world by 2019.[24]

In 2023, 83% of the new car sales were electric in Nepal. Nepal leads the Asian market in terms of EV adoption.[25]


  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference EVOutlook2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b International Energy Agency (IEA), Clean Energy Ministerial, and Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI) (29 April 2021). "Global EV Outlook 2021: Accelerating ambitions despite the pandemic". International Energy Agency. Retrieved 16 May 2021. After a decade of rapid growth, in 2020 the global electric car stock hit the 10 million mark, a 43% increase over 2019, and representing a 1% stock share. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for two-thirds of new electric car registrations and two-thirds of the stock in 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Global1mi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference 5miGlobal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Global10mi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Global20mi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Jose, Pontes (30 January 2022). "World EV Sales – Tesla Model 3 Wins 4th Consecutive Best Seller Title in Record Year". CleanTechnica. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  8. ^ Jose, Pontes (31 January 2019). "Global Top 20 – December 2018". EV Sales. Retrieved 31 January 2019. "Global sales totaled 2,018,247 plug-in passenger cars in 2018, with a BEV:PHEV ratio of 69:31, and a market share of 2.1%. The world's top selling plug-in car was the Tesla Model 3, and Tesla was the top selling manufacturer of plug-in passenger cars in 2018".
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Top20Global2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Hertzke, Patrick; Müller, Nicolai; Schenk, Stephanie; Wu, Ting (May 2018). "The global electric-vehicle market is amped up and on the rise". McKinsey & Company. Retrieved 27 January 2019. See Exhibit 1: Global electric-vehicle sales, 2010–17.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference GlobalRatio2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference China20mi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ a b International Energy Agency (IEA). "IEA Global EV Data Explorer". International Energy Agency (IEA). Retrieved 1 February 2024. From the bar graph, the stock of plug-in cars totaled 7.8 million units, consisting of 3.4 million plug-in hybrids and 4.4 million all-electric cars. Select Historical: "EV stock" + Transport mode: "Cars" + Region" "Europe"
  14. ^ European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) (18 January 2024). "New car registrations: +13.9% in 2023; battery electric 14.6% market share". ACEA. Retrieved 2 February 2024. Use interactive graphs for total registrations and market share by power source. Select option EU + EFTA + UK. EFTA countries include Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. A total of 3,006,311 plug-in electric passenger cars were sold in the region in 2023. The plug-in segmant market share was 23.4%, 15.7% BEV + 7.7% PHEV.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Europe2021ACEA_LCV was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference SalesUSA2024 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cal1mi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference GERstock2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference Germany2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference TopTen2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference Norway2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference Norway10pct was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kjøretøybestanden2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Paulraj, Pon (14 December 2019). "The Netherlands has the highest density of Electric Vehicle chargers in the world". Emobility Simplified. Retrieved 17 June 2020. Latest figures released by the Ministry of Infrastructure (RVO) shows that every square kilometer in the country has an average of 1.18 semi-public charge points!
  25. ^ Character-Search9211 (18 April 2024). "Nepal is a sleeper hit in EV adoption". r/electricvehicles. Retrieved 3 September 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)