EV sales surge infographic
Graphic shows global sales of battery electric vehicles in Q1 2022.
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BUSINESS

Electric car sales surge in first quarter

By Duncan Mil

July 11, 2022 - Battery electric vehicle sales in the first quarter of 2022 were more than double those recorded in the corresponding period last year, with China responsible for seven in 10 of all battery EV sales.

Battery EV sales reached the one million mark in China in Q1 2022, confounding some analysts’ predictions who believed that the 30% cut in subsidies for all-electric cars at the beginning of the year would limit market performance.

Between 2009, when the subsidies began, through to the end of 2021, China spent 100 billion yuan (€14.7 billion, $14.8 billion) on EV subsidies, according to an estimate by Shi Ji, an auto analyst with China Merchants Bank International.

EV sales in the UK registered a market share of 16.5 per cent of all new vehicles, trailing Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Norway with 17.4, 28.7, 51.7 and 83.5 per cent, respectively.

Since the start of the year, the United States has joined Europe and China, moving beyond the five per cent tipping point when mainstream demand overtakes early adopters.

The Biden administration last year issued an executive order calling for EVs to make up half of the new vehicles by 2030 (including plug-in hybrids). EVs in the U.S. has now reached 5.3 per cent of vehicle sales.

Bloomberg NEF predicts that all of the net growth in global car sales in 2022 will come from electric cars, a trend it forecasts will continue indefinitely.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 11/07/2022; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
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