What is the most sold EV brand in the world

BYD and Tesla Dominate Global EV Sales

Some of the worlds leading car makers are among the exhibitors at IAA Mobility 2023 in Munich this week, where the electric future of mobility will once again take center stage. While German legacy car brands such as Volkswagen, Mercedes and BMW will try to make an impression on their home turf, they have fallen behind in the transition to electric cars lately, as they understandably continue to work on international combustion engines as well, while smaller, more specialized companies such as Tesla and Chinese market leader BYD have raced ahead.

In the first half of 2023, BYD alone sold almost 1.2 million plug-in electric vehicles (incl. plug-in hybrids), roughly double the combined total of BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes. To make things worse for Germanys automotive heavyweights (and other European carmakers), the company that recently surpassed Volkswagen as the number 1 car brand in China now has Europe in its sight. On Monday, BYD presented six models for the European market in Munich, showing that it means business in the market it entered less than a year ago. Between January and July, the company sold 92,469 EVs overseas, already exceeding the total of 2022.

It remains to be seen, however, how European consumers respond to the Chinese newcomer, as there is still a bit of a stigma attached to cars made in China, especially in Germany, which prides itself on its automotive excellency. The following chart, based on estimates from CleanTechnica, shows that BYD and Tesla have opened up a sizeable lead in the global EV market, where other Chinese brands such as GAC Aion, SGMW and Li Auto are also among the largest players thanks to their huge home market.

HotCars

The electric vehicle (EV) movement is still going strong. With almost two times as many Americans purchasing EVs in the first quarter of 2022 as in the first quarter of 2021, according to Kelley Blue Book, EVs are gaining more ground, faster than ever before. More than five percent of total car sales are now EVs for the first time in history.

Those numbers are just anticipated to continue to rise in coming years as more EVs are developed, and more people jump onboard with savings over gasoline costs, concerns over climate change, and the appeal of updated technology enticing them to go electric.

The best-selling EVs of 2022 so far include some of the most technologically forward vehicles, the biggest names, and best values. Tesla, of course, kept their lead as the EV market leader this year with a huge chunk of EV sales, however, some other makers arent far behind and EVs from Hyundai Motor Group, Ford, Nissan, and Volkswagen also made the top ten list while many more will join the competition later in the year.

Lets take a closer look at the best-selling EVs of 2022, so far!

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The Top Contenders From Tesla And Hyundai Motor Group

According to registration and sales records, Tesla is still dominating the EV market with around 75% of EVs sold between January and March being Tesla models and the Model Y SUV and Model 3 sedan making up around 68% of the EV market on their own. Those models represent the top two best-selling EVs in 2022 so far.

In total, Tesla sold over 113,000 vehicles in quarter one of 2022. The runners-up from Hyundai Motor Group (which includes the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, and Kia Nira EV) trailed those sales. Kia racked up 8,450 and Hyundai sold 6,964 units (with an astounding 6,265 of those being the Ioniq 5).

Teslas Model Y SUV, the number one seller in EVs in 2022 so far, has excellent range with a maximum of 330 miles. Starting at an MSRP of $64,990 and going up to a cost of $80,000 for the fully loaded Performance model according to Kelley Blue Book, the Model Y offers a lot of bang for the buck with quick acceleration, high top speeds, and the availability of an optional third row of seats in some models.

The Model 3 sedan costs $48,190 for the base iteration according to Edmunds and is one of the highest rated EVs on the market currently. The range is advertised between 315 and 358 miles per charge (depending on trim). The sleek look, comfortable interior, and strong performance alongside the Tesla brand make it an obvious choice for those in the market for an EV.

Of the EVs offered through branches of Hyundai Motor Group, the best-selling has been the Hyundai Ioniq 5. The compact crossover has a ton of style and a lot of desirable features. Starting at just $39,950 and going up to $52,395, according to Edmunds, the Ioniq 5 offers a range up to 303 miles on a charge and is technology rich. It is also innovatively designed with eco-friendly materials in the interior and offers ample cargo and passenger room.

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The Runners-Up From Ford, Nissan, and Volkswagen

Catching up quickly to the competition, Ford reached sales of 7,407 EV units in the first quarter and, of those, 6,957 were the Mustang Mach-E. Offering a taste of the speed that the Mustang name is known for, the Mach-E is also available in a GT trim as of 2022. Pumping out an impressive 480 horsepower and 600 lb.-ft of torque, the Mach-E costs at least $43,995, but can go up to $67,995 for the GT Performance iteration.

Nissans LEAF is next on the top-sellers of 2022 with 4,401 sold in quarter one. Although rated lower overall compared to offerings from the other manufacturers on our EV best-sellers list, the LEAF beats them out in affordability. Starting at just $28,895, the car appeals to budget-conscious buyers and their strategy of offering something small and comfortable has seemingly paid off. Although offering just 200 miles of range, the LEAF does offer many of the same technologies as the bigger, more expensive models out there.

Volkswagens ID.4 rounds out the top list with 2,926 units sold in the first quarter of 2022. Volkswagen began focusing on the EV market with their ID line and the ID.4 is one of their more recent offerings (since 2020). Named World Car of the Year and one of the 10 Best User Experiences by Wards, the compact crossover SUV offers up to 280 miles per charge and has more than enough appeal for its $42,435 beginning price point.

Overall, Tesla and offerings from Hyundai Motor Group have taken the lead as the best-sellers of 2022 so far, but Ford, Nissan, and Volkswagen arent far behind. Additionally, with plans to expand electrification production efforts from many big names and the introduction of some new models coming later in the year, it is still possible to see competition become closer in the second half of 2022 and especially likely in coming years.

Tracking global data on electric vehicles

Electric vehicles are an important solution to decarbonizing transport.

Electric cars tend to have a lower carbon footprint than petrol or diesel cars over their lifetimes. While more carbon is emitted in the manufacturing stage, this carbon debt tends to pay off quickly once theyre on the road.¹ The carbon savings are higher in countries with a cleaner electricity mix, and these savings will also increase as countries continue to decarbonize their electricity grids.

How quickly are countries moving to electrified transport? Which countries are leading the way?

In this article we look at data from across the world on electric vehicle (EV) sales, and stocks on the road.

This data comes from the International Energy Agency. It publishes its Global EV Outlook every year. We will continue to update this data every time a new release is published.²

Sales of new cars

What share of new cars are electric?

Sales of electric cars started from a low base but are growing quickly in many markets.

Globally, around 1-in-7 new cars sold was electric in 2022 (the preliminary estimate for 2023 is around 1-in-5). In Norway, the share was well over 4-in-5, and in China, it was around 1-in-3.

In the chart below you can explore these trends across the world.

Here, electric cars include fully battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

Fully-electric cars vs. plug-in hybrids

Electric cars include battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The difference is that fully battery-electric cars do not have an internal combustion engine, whereas plug-in hybrids have a rechargeable battery and electric motor and an internal combustion engine that runs on gasoline.

That means a plug-in hybrid could be driven as a standard petrol car if the owner did not charge the battery. The battery in plug-in hybrids is smaller and has a shorter range than battery-electric cars, so over longer distances, the car starts running on gasoline once the battery has run out.

Since plug-in hybrids will often run on petrol, they tend to emit more carbon than battery-electric cars. However, they do usually have lower emissions than petrol or diesel cars.³

In the first chart below you can see electric car sales broken down by these two technologies. This is given as a share of new cars sold each year.

In the second, you will find the share of new electric cars sold that are fully battery-electric.

How many new electric cars are sold each year?

The chart below shows the total number of new electric cars sold. Again, this includes fully battery-electric and plug-in hybrids.

Clicking on any country will show how sales have changed over time.

How many new internal combustion engine cars and electric cars are sold each year?

Based on the data published by the IEA on the number of electric cars sold, and EV sales as a share of all new cars, we can calculate the absolute number of new cars of each type sold each year.

These figures suggest that global sales of non-electric cars peaked in 2018. This aligns with other estimates published elsewhere; for example, Bloomberg New Energy Finance reported that sales peaked in 2017.

You can explore this data for other countries in the chart below too.

Stocks of cars in use

What share of cars on the road are electric?

The cars that are on the road today represent sales data over more than a decade.

This can be captured in a metric called stocks. Its an approximation of the number of cars that are in use and represents the balance of cars being added and those that are being retired.

Because people use their cars for a long time, it takes time before new sales have a visible influence on car stocks. That means the share of cars on the road that are electric is much lower than the share for new sales.

The share of cars in use that are electric is shown in the chart below.

How many electric cars are on the road?

The number of electric cars on the road is the cumulative total of sales over the years (minus any cars that have been taken off the road).

The total number of electric car stocks is shown in the chart below. There are now more than 25 million electric cars in use globally, and this is growing quickly.

Hannah Ritchie (2024) - Tracking global data on electric vehicles Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/electric-car-sales' [Online Resource]

@article{owid-electric-car-sales,    author = {Hannah Ritchie},    title = {Tracking global data on electric vehicles},    journal = {Our World in Data},    year = {2024},    note = {https://ourworldindata.org/electric-car-sales}}

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