Global electric vehicle sales have continued to rise, with 2019 EV market share reaching 4.7% in China and 3.8% in Europe.
Meanwhile, the world’s fossil fuel vehicle sales have continued to free-fall in 2019, dropping by around 4.35 million compared to 2018, accelerating a now inexorable trend.
LMC automotive has released its 2019 global auto sales figures this past week, with an overall drop from 2018’s 94.416 million to 90.266 million.
The gross figures don’t detail the fossil fuel vehicle vs. EV sales split, but regional EV data (or firm estimates) are now in place for the 3 largest markets (China, Europe, and the US), which together make up almost two-thirds of global auto sales.
Let’s grasp the overall picture via the combined total of combustion vehicle sales and EV sales in these 3 major markets:
The toughest market for combustion vehicles in 2019 was China, with a drop in sales of 8.4% compared to 2018 on the other hand EV market share actually increased from 4.5% to 4.7% due to this dramatic decline.
In Europe (EU + EFTA), the fossil fuel based vehicle sales increased slightly due to Fire Sales as the tough CO2 emissions regulations were suppose to come into effect from 2020 (they have now come into effect).
The 2019 US picture is more mixed. Fossil vehicle sales dropped by 180,000 units, a fall of 1.1%. EV sales meanwhile also dropped by 32,000, a fall of 8.9%. The US EV market share thus fell from 2.1% to 1.9%.
A major cause of lower EV sales in the US is weak US availability of compelling affordable EV offerings (e.g., the Hyundai Kona EV and Kia e-Niro), and very few new EV models in more affordable segments in 2019.
All auto market analysts continue to predict falling global auto volumes in 2020, especially in China, Europe, and the US. Conversely, EV sales will continue to grow, and we can expect global EV market share to climb to at least 3% in 2020.
Reference- LMC Automotive Report, InsideEVs, Clean Technica