Electric car sales have continued to climb in recent years, with 2019 figures registering a 40
percent year-on-year increase according to the Global EV Outlook 2020 report released by the
International Energy Agency (IEA).
Sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids reached 2.1 million in 2019, accounting for 2.6 percent
of global car sales and one percent of global car stock, the report revealed.
The last decade has seen robust growth for electric cars. From close to zero in 2010, there are 7.2 million electric and plug-in hybrid passenger cars on the road today: 3.35 million in China, 1.75 million in Europe, 1.45 million in the United States and 620,000 in the rest of the world.
The report identified China as the biggest EV market where half of all electric cars were sold in 2019. Europe was the second-largest electric car market in 2019 with sales of around 560,000 units followed by the US with roughly 330,000 electric car sales.
The infrastructure for electric-vehicle charging also continued to expand. In 2019, there were about 7.3 million chargers worldwide: 6.5 million were private, light-duty vehicle slow chargers in homes, multi-dwelling buildings and workplaces.
The study mentioned that despite the rapid growth for electric cars, the global passenger car market is expected to decline by 15 percent. While the COVID-19 pandemic will affect global vehicle markets, how governments respond to the pandemic might influence the pace of the transition to electric vehicles.
The Global EV Outlook is an annual publication developed with members of the Electric
Vehicles Initiative (EVI). The report identifies and discusses recent developments in electric
mobility across the globe. The entire 2020 report can be viewed at
https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2020 .
