Electric cars are spreading rapidly across the world. In China and the United States, more and more people are choosing a new electric car, while in Northern Europe they are becoming increasingly common.
More and more electric cars are travelling the world's roads. This, in a nutshell, is the finding that emerges from the latest edition of the "Global Electric Vehicles Outlook" published by the International Energy Agency (IEA). Researchers estimated that, in 2017, the number of hybrid electric and plug-in electric cars on the road exceeded 3 million, an increase of 54 per cent on the previous year.
Looking ahead, supportive policies and cost reductions could lead to significant and sustained growth in the electric vehicle market. In the IEA's scenario, which takes current and planned policies into account, the number of electric cars is projected to reach 125 million units by 2030. But in the more ambitious EV30@30 scenario, which aims to meet climate targets, the number of electric cars on the road could reach 220 million by 2030.
The market that has delivered the greatest satisfaction to electric car manufacturers is China, where last year half of all electric cars sold worldwide were purchased — a figure equal to 580,000 vehicles. A remarkable performance: sales growth amounted to 72 per cent compared with 2016. In this ranking, the United States comes second, with around 280,000 vehicles sold in 2017, up from 160,000 in 2016. If one looks instead at the countries where electric cars are most widespread, however, the ranking changes completely.
The top spot goes to the Nordic countries, which maintain their leadership position in market share. Last year, electric cars accounted for 39 per cent of new car sales in Norway, the first true electric vehicle market. In Iceland, new sales of green vehicles represented 12 per cent of the total, while in Sweden the figure reached 6 per cent. Very positive trends were also recorded in Germany and Japan, where strong growth was seen, with sales more than doubling compared with 2016 levels.
Electric mobility is certainly not limited to cars. In 2017, the stock of electric buses rose to 370,000 from 345,000 in 2016, and two-wheeled electric vehicles reached 250 million. Despite numbers beginning to rise in Europe and India as well, the lion's share of the electrification of these modes of transport is taken — once again — by China, which in 2017 accounted for over 99 per cent of registrations of electric buses and electric two-wheelers.
A determining factor in the growth of the electric car market is the development of charging infrastructure. In 2017, the number of charging points in homes and workplaces reached almost 3 million worldwide. In the same year, it is estimated that around 430,000 charging stations were available to drivers and other road users across the world; a quarter of these were of the "fast charge" type. The spread of fast charging points makes the switch from older fossil-fuel vehicles to electric vehicles attractive even for those who need greater range for long-distance travel.
The rapid spread of electric vehicles has been driven by the technological advances made in recent years to improve performance and reduce the costs of lithium-ion batteries. But the IEA report also acknowledges the important contribution of policies in support of green mobility. Constraints imposed on fuel consumption and local pollutant emissions, together with appropriate government policies — such as financial incentives that reduce the purchase cost of electric vehicles, or restrictions on vehicle circulation based on their pollutant emission performance — are important elements that have driven the global growth of clean transport.
