Norway, Netherlands and Sweden lead the way in EV market share, says new report

Following a year of strong growth in 2015, the number of electric vehicles on the roads around the world rose to 2 million in 2016, according to the latest edition of the International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook.

The report estimates a total of 2.3 million EV charging points worldwide in 2016, with the deployment rate of publicly accessible charging infrastructure slightly ahead of the growth of the electric car stock in the past year.

China remained the largest market in 2016, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the electric cars sold in the world. With more than 200 million electric two-wheelers and more than 300,000 electric buses, China is by far the global leader in the electrification of transport. China, the US and Europe made up the three main markets, totalling over 90 per cent of all EVs sold around the world.

Electric car deployment in some markets is swift. In Norway, electric cars had a 29 per cent market share last year, the highest globally, followed by the Netherlands with 6.4 per cent, and Sweden with 3.4 per cent. The electric car market is set to transition from early deployment to mass market adoption over the next decade or so. Between 9 and 20 million electric car could be deployed by 2020, and between 40 and 70 million by 2025, according to estimates based on recent statement from carmakers.

The report offers a comprehensive collection of national-level data on EV deployment based on primary data collected from member governments of the Electric Vehicle Initiative (EVI) - a multi-government policy forum established in 2009 under the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), dedicated to accelerating the deployment of EVs worldwide.

EVI members will also launch the EV30@30 campaign during the Eighth CEM Meeting on June 8 in Beijing. The campaign will set a collective aspirational goal for all EVI members of a 30 per cent market share for electric vehicles in the total of all passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, buses and trucks by 2030. The campaign will also raise support for accelerated deployment of charging infrastructure, commitments on fleet procurement, and exchange and replication of best practices for the promotion of EVs in cities.