Global electric vehicle (EV) sales rose in 2024 by 25 per cent to set a new annual record, powered in large part by continued growth in demand in China.
EV research firm Rho Motion reports global EV passenger car and light-duty vehicle sale reached 17.1 million in 2024. This was up from 13.6 million units in 2023 and 10.4 million units in 2022.
However, there’s an important qualifier here – the tally includes plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), and the firm doesn’t break out sales between the two propulsion types.
Sales of EVs in Europe, including the United Kingdom, were actually down by three per cent on 2023, which was more than offset by a 40 per cent rise in China.
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However, Rho Motion notes growth of fully electric vehicles in China was up by 19 per cent, while PHEVs were up by a whopping 81 per cent.
It notes just over one-third of new EVs sold in China during 2024 were from BYD, which exclusively sells EVs and PHEVs.
Sales of EVs in the US and Canada were also up by nine per cent – Cox Automotive separately reported a 7.3 per cent increase in the US to 1.3 million EV sales.
US EV sales are likely to be impacted this year, however, by policy changes made by the incoming Trump Administration that are expected to see the federal tax credit for EVs removed.
Outside of China, Europe, the US and Canada, EV sales were up by 27 per cent. According to local data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and the EV Council, Australian EV sales were up by 4.7 per cent.
“After the record-breaking year in 2023 for EV sales we entered 2024 with some optimism about the market despite headwinds,” said Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester.
“While overall the global market has boomed, growing by a quarter over the year, the regional disparities have also grown.
“What is clear is that Government carrots and sticks are working. In North America, the nine per cent growth can mostly be attributed to consumer subsidies and over in the UK, the ZEV mandate has highly incentivised manufacturers to push their low emission cars.
“Meanwhile the removal of subsidies in Germany had a devastating impact on the whole European market, if the US follows suit, we may see the same there.”
The UK overtook Germany as the biggest EV market in the region, though Norway has the highest penetration rate. This reached over 90 per cent towards the end of 2024.
Tesla recorded its first year of sales decline globally in 2024, with a 1.1 per cent drop despite the Cybertruck and updated Model 3 coming on stream.
However, with 1,789,226 models delivered, Tesla beat BYD in global EV sales. The Chinese brand delivered 1,764,992 battery-only passenger vehicles, though it also sold 2,507,153 PHEVs.
