Global EV Sales Surge Beyond 17 Million Units in 2024

Global sales of fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles surged by 25% last year, reaching over 17 million cars. This growth was driven by a fourth consecutive month of record sales in December, with strong market performance in China and stabilization in Europe, according to recent data.

Incentives and emission targets propelled electric vehicle (EV) sales in China, while helping Britain surpass Germany to become Europe’s largest battery-electric market in 2024, according to research firm Rho Motion.

Electric car makers look into 2025 as a transformative year as China’s sales growth slows, new emissions targets are setting off in Europe, and questions surround potential US policy changes under the incoming Trump administration.

Global sales of fully EVs and plug-in hybrids rose 25.6 percent year on year to 1.9 million in December, albeit slowing for a second consecutive month, the Rho Motion data showed.

Sales in China jumped 36.5 per cent to 1.3 million vehicles in December, and totalled 11 million for the whole of 2024.

In the United States and Canada, EV sales rose 8.8 percent to 0.2 million in December, while Europe reported sales of 0.3 million, up 0.7 per cent from the same month of 2023.

In the rest of the world, December sales rose by 26.4 percent.

“The removal of subsidies in Germany had a devastating impact on the whole European market, if the US follows suit, we may see the same there,” Rho Motion said in a note.

Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester, commenting on November data following the European Union’s introduction of tariffs at the end of October, said that there was “no clear downturn in sales” of major Chinese-made EV models.

An EU filing showed last week that automakers facing tougher CO2 emissions rules were planning to pool together and buy carbon credits from EV companies including Tesla and Polestar to avoid hefty fines.

Meanwhile China, in a bid to promote EV adoption while reviving economic growth, extended last Wednesday the auto trade-in subsidies into 2025 as part of an expanded consumer trade-in scheme.