There has been lots of turbulence in the electric car industry of late. Part of it is aggressive publicity campaigns spreading misinformation and part of it is the natural fits and starts associated with major change. But apart from the ups and downs of individual companies and countries, analysts are projecting another record year for the sales of electric vehicles and are expecting that plug-in cars will account for 20% of all car sales globally. Much of the growth will be driven by China, where 38% of new car sales will be electric cars.
Global sales of plug-in cars are expected to grow by 21% this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Total projected sales are 16.7 million cars, including 1.9 million in the U.S., 3.4 million in Europe, and 9.7 million in China. Because of the rapid adoption of electric cars in China, that country is expected to reach peak gasoline demand this year. In other words, the use of gasoline in China will be diminishing from now on.
The auto industry is in flux. The traditional big automakers are currently slowing down EV manufacturing as they work to come up to speed with the technology and market demand. Meanwhile, EV-only carmakers such as Tesla in the U.S. and BYD in China are ratcheting up production. BYD is focusing on emerging economies with its lower-priced offerings.
In the U.S., EV adoption has been slowed somewhat by high interest rates and the slow rollout of EVs by the Big Three automakers. But many new vehicles by a growing list of automakers will provide customers with more and more choices of EVs to suit diverse tastes and needs.
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This Year One in Five Cars Sold Globally Will Be an EV
Photo, posted November 18, 2023, courtesy of RL via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio
