History of the electric vehicle

This article is about history of all-electric vehicles. For the history of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles that use plug-in rechargeable batteries, see history of plug-in hybrids.

Modern mass market all-electric passenger cars. Clockwise from upper left: Jaguar I-Pace, Tesla Model 3, Nissan Leaf, and BMW i3

Crude electric carriages were first invented in the late 1820s and 1830s. Practical, commercially available electric vehicles appeared during the 1890s. An electric vehicle held the vehicular land speed record until around 1900. In the early 20th century, the high cost, low top speed, and short-range of battery electric vehicles, compared to internal combustion engine vehicles, led to a worldwide decline in their use as private motor vehicles. Electric vehicles have continued to be used for loading and freight equipment and for public transport – especially rail vehicles.

At the beginning of the 21st century, interest in electric and alternative fuel vehicles in private motor vehicles increased due to: growing concern over the problems associated with hydrocarbon-fueled vehicles, including damage to the environment caused by their emissions; the sustainability of the current hydrocarbon-based transportation infrastructure; and improvements in electric vehicle technology.

Since 2010, combined sales of all-electric cars and utility vans achieved 1 million units delivered globally in September 2016,[1] 4.8 million electric cars in use at the end of 2019,[2] and cumulative sales of light-duty plug-in electric cars reached the 10 million unit milestone by the end of 2020.[3] The global ratio between annual sales of battery electric cars and plug-in hybrids went from 56:44 in 2012 to 74:26 in 2019, and fell to 69:31 in 2020.[3][4][5] As of August 2020, the fully electric Tesla Model 3 is the world's all-time best selling plug-in electric passenger car, with around 645,000 units.[6]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference 1miBEVs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Global EV Outlook 2020: Entering the decade of electric drive?". International Energy Agency (IEA), Clean Energy Ministerial, and Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI). June 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2022. See Statistical annex, pp. 247–252 (See Tables A.1 and A.12). The global stock of plug-in electric passenger vehicles totaled 7.2 million cars at the end of 2019, of which, 47% were on the road in China. The stock of plug-in cars consist of 4.8 million battery electric cars (66.6%) and 2.4 million plug-in hybrids (33.3%). In addition, the stock of light commercial plug-in electric vehicles in use totaled 378 thousand units in 2019, and about half a million electric buses were in circulation, most of which are in China.
  3. ^ a b Irle, Roland (19 January 2021). "Global Plug-in Vehicle Sales Reached over 3,2 Million in 2020". ev-volumes.com. Retrieved 9 July 2022. Plug-in sales totaled 3.24 million in 2020, up from 2.26 million in 2019. Europe, with nearly 1.4 million units surpassed China as the largest EV market for the first time since 2015.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference EVImckinsey2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Top20Global2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Kane, Mark (4 October 2020). "See The Best Selling Battery Electric Cars Of All-Time Here". insideevs.com. Retrieved 9 July 2022.