Electric Car Sales in 2022: 8.8%
The transition from combustion engine vehicles to all-electric ones has been unfolding for the past fifteen years and is estimated to continue another fifteen. It is not simply a case of large-scale investments by global governments and producers, instead, it is reflection of both the social and cultural challenges that are confronting those who use cars and other forms of transport today.
Despite all the endeavors and steps toward achievement that have been made up to this point, it is clear that the sector is still a great way off achieving its full electrification.
Car manufacturers have made many announcements about their plans to go “green” and sell only zero-emission cars, which is just one part of the global transformation. These aspirations are in keeping with the ambitious goals of governments across Europe, the United States, China, and other nations to prohibit the sale of cars with combustion engines in the near future. All of these efforts are geared towards cutting down on emissions.
Nonetheless, the present-day situation is exceedingly dissimilar from those fantastical predictions. Supported by verifiable outcomes from the chief automakers worldwide and my own inquiry, electrical autos are projected to make up 8.8 percent of the 71.3 million vehicles sold around the world in 2022 (the figures excluded a few minor makers in Europe and China).
The market portion is higher than that registered the previous year, however it is insignificant in comparison to the succeeding aims and manifests an extensive chasm between the automobile makers from China, Europe, the U.S., Japan, and South Korea.
Unsurprisingly, Chinese automakers continue to lead the way when it comes to electrifying their car sales. The ten manufacturers included in this study sold a total of 2.83 million electric vehicle units in 2022, representing approximately 23% of their global sales. To put this into perspective, this statistic implies that 23 percent of Chinese automobile makers’ sales were solely composed of electric cars. This is a remarkable result given the comparatively short timeframe which auto makers have to cease selling petrol and diesel vehicles. With such results, the potential exists to attain their ultimate goals within twelve years.
Not only in the USA, but around the world, electric vehicles are seeing a significant shift in market trends. In the case of American automakers (also including Stellantis among European ones), EV sales accounted for 13.1 percent of total sales in 2022. This double-digit percentage can be attributed to Tesla, whose automobiles made up 87 percent of this equation. Without the influence of Tesla, Battery Electric Vehicles constituted a mere 1.9 percent of the sale figures of GM and Ford across the Earth.
European car makers sold a total of 20.8 million vehicles in the last year, but just 1.39 million were electrically powered – equaling 6.7 percent of the overall market. Consequently, achieving an entire switch to electric vehicles by 2035 seems like an improbable mission. Nonetheless, automakers located in Europe are better situated than those in Japan, Korea and India.
The situation in Japan is very worrisome. Statistics demonstrate that of all 18.9 million cars released by the four Japanese car manufacturers offering an entirely electric option for 2022 (Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda) only 168,000 were sold, equating to a mere 0.9 percent. Had Suzuki, Subaru, and Mitsubishi been taken into consideration, this percentage would be significantly decreased.
If the automotive industry in the West is to successfully reduce emissions within a timely manner, investments as well as government aid will be essential. The inquiry stands: in order to realize these objectives, will jobs be lost, production plants shut down and key car sections mourned? It seems that a new stage of electrification is soon to commence with much anticipation.
Felipe Munoz, a specialized professional in the automotive sector for JATO Dynamics, is the author of this piece.
