World Electric Car Market in 2021

Global Plug-in car sales in 2021:

BEVs: about 4.6 million (up about 115% year-over-year) and 6.1% share
PHEVs: about 1.9 million (up about 93% year-over-year) and 2.9% share
Total: 6,495,388 (up 108% year-over-year) and 9% share

Tesla had 20.3% of the global BEV market in 2021.

All-electric (BEV) car sales in Q1-Q4 2021 (vs previous year):

Tesla: 936,172 and 21% share (vs 23%)
SAIC (incl. SAIC-GM-Wuling): 609,730 and 13% share
Volkswagen Group: 451,131 and 10% share (vs 11%)
BYD: 323,143 and 7% share
Hyundai Motor Group: 216,562 and 5% share
Top 5 total: 2,536,738 (55% share)
others: over 2 million (45% share)
Total: over 4.6 million

Xpeng had 98,155 sales in 2021 Xpeng is all BEV.
Nio had 91,422 sales in 2021. Nio is all BEV.

Plug-in car sales in Q1-Q4 2021 (vs previous year):

Tesla: 936,172 and 14.4% share (vs 16%)
Volkswagen Group: 757,994 and 11.7% share (vs 13%)
SAIC (incl. SAIC-GM-Wuling): 683,086 and 10.5% share
BYD: 593,878 and 9.1% share
Stellantis: 360,953 and 5.6% share
Top 5 total: 3,332,083 (51.3% share)
others: 3,163,305 (48.7% share)
Total: 6,495,388

The top-selling models in December and in 2021 (sorted by 2021):

Tesla Model 3 – 86,032 and 500,713 YTD ($45k starting price)
Wuling’s Hong Guang MINI EV – 55,742 and 424,138 YTD (cheap $5000 BEV car)
Tesla Model Y – 79,621 and 410,517 YTD ($40k starting price)
Volkswagen ID.4 – 19,174 and 121,631 YTD (start $50k price)
BYD Qin Plus PHEV – 17,286 and 111,553 YTD (PHEV not BEV)
Li Xiang One EREV – 14,087 and 90,491 YTD (PHEV not BEV)
BYD Han EV – 10,307 and 86,901 YTD (about $30k-40k price BEV)
BYD Song Pro/Plus PHEV – 15,123 and 78,973 YTD (PHEV not BEV)
Changan Benni EV – 10,404 and 76,454 YTD (cheap $8.5k BEV car)
Volkswagen ID.3 – 8,563 and 76,278 YTD (start $40k price)

VW Group made 452,900 BEVs in 2021 and about 300,000 PHEV. VW Group had 9.8% of the global BEV market. This was more BEVs than the 320k BEV for BYD in 2021. If we want to count the $4k-5k Wuling Mini EV then those sold 395k in 2021. Nearly 60 percent of the VW group’s electric vehicle sales come from the Volkswagen brand and are backed by Audi, Cupra, Porsche, SEAT and Skoda, giving it a presence in a range of electric vehicle segments.

VW Group Q4 2021 had
BEVs: about 159,800 (up 47.2% year-over-year) and 8.3% share
PHEVs: about 63,500 (down 25% year-over-year) and 3.3% share
Total: about 223,300 (up 15% year-over-year) and 11.6% share

Half of all-electric vehicles sold globally are to mainland Chinese customers. There are only about 300-500k+ BEV in the more premium Tesla range (BYD, Nio, Xpeng, VW). The vast majority of China BEVs are below $22000 and most of these are $12000 or less.

Europe had 1.2 million BEV sales in 2021. There were 1.03 million PHEV sales in Europe in 2021.

The Ford Mach E, the GM Bolt (all recalled with battery fire issues) and the Nissan Leaf are also competing in the non-cheap end of EVs. VW, Ford, GM and Nissan, Renault, Nissan, Peugeot are competing in the US and Europe.

Peugeot is owned by Stellantis. VW Group owns Skoda, Audi Porsche.

Top Battery Electric Car Companies in 2021

Tesla leads the global electric vehicle market with a 20.3% BEV share (936k). In 2021, the Model Y begins to sell in key markets and quickly surpasses the Model 3 in mainland China and the United States. Tesla’s vehicle production has matured in mainland China and will start production in Europe in the first half of 2022. In 2022, Tesla will focus on delivering existing models rather than launching new ones.

SAIC-GM-Wuling ranked second place BEV with 13% share (609k) and about 12% share of the BEV & PHEV market. The cheap Wuling Hongguang Mini EV is far ahead in mainland China and the slightly less cheap Boajun models were the reason for SAIC sales. SAIC als has Maxus, MG, Roewe, etc. brands.

The Baojun is a BEV car brand with about 100,000 sales per year and prices around $10,000 prices and PHEV SUVs. Maxus also has PHEV SUVs.

The overseas sales volume of MG has exceeded 310,000 vehicles this year, including 245,000 exported vehicles and 66,000 vehicles produced overseas.

MG has sold 46,000 NEVs in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, and other developed countries this year, becoming a leader among China’s NEV makers in expanding into overseas markets. These sales overseas are mostly PHEV SUVs.

Volkswagen is in third place with 9.8% BEV market share and second place with BEV and PHEV with 14% share. It doubled its EV sales in 2021 compared to 2020 and leads the European market.

BYD is in fourth place, with EV sales increasing by more than 200% in 2021 and a market share of 7% for BEV and 9% for BEV and PHEV. BYD has launched more than a dozen models in mainland China, including some electric and hybrid versions. At the end of 2021, BYD also launched the first model based on its new e-platform 3.0 platform, and more new models are expected to be launched based on this platform in 2022.

Hyundai’s EV market share in 2021 is 5%. That’s because the Hyundai and Kia twins are doing well. Among them, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 are launched in mid-2021, while the Hyundai Kona and Kia Niro are selling well in 2021. So far, the group has dealt with chip shortages better than most rivals.

Xpeng and Nio had pure BEV sales of about 100,000 each. Each had just over 2% global BEV share.

Stellantis and BMW were mostly PHEV. The electrified version of the popular compact car in Europe is key to its success, with Peugeot, Opel/Vauxhall and Fiat all selling well. Stellantis will produce four new electric vehicle platforms for use in vehicles across the group’s 14 brands.

Stellantis Fiat 500e was the best-selling electric car in Italy in 2021 with 10,753 sales.

The BMW Group’s electric vehicle sales in 2021 increased by 70%, gaining a 5% market share. With China being the largest market, its best-selling electric car in 2021 is the China-made BMW iX3 (38000 sold in 2021). The Mini Cooper SE was the second best-selling electric car, ahead of the older BMW i3.

China has EV cars like the Chery eq ($8500), Great Wall Black Cat Ora ($10k-15k range) and the GAC Aion S is an EV sedan at about $25000.

SOURCES- InsideEV, cleantechnica, Best selling cars
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com

11 thoughts on “World Electric Car Market in 2021”

  1. What does a $110K luxury truck disrupt?

    Disruptive would be an equivalent of a Tesla Model Y for $35K, forcing ICE car makers to react rapidly or die.

  2. 2021 growth of BEVs was 83%, to 3% of new US car sales; growth of Hybrid EV sales was 76%, to 5%.

    Since the sum of BEVs and HEVs would hit 100% of sales in 5 years at those growth rates, and BEVs alone would hit 100% within 6 years, we'll probably see HEVs keep outselling BEVs for a couple more years, but start falling around 2025. The growth rate of new BEVs will moderate somewhat as well, but probably by 2030 BEVs will be close to 100% of new car sales.

    If self-driving taxis catch on, total vehicles could decline, but the plethora of cheap used ICE vehicles will likely mean the switch-over takes about as long anyhow.

    By 2030, about 2/3rds of all cars on the road in the US will be HEV or BEV, and that will be having major commercial impacts.

    About 3/4 of charging will be done while parked overnight. Many commercial parking lots will have a few charging spots, but not fast charging. That leaves fewer customers for gas stations that install fast charging, and charging will yield less profit. Stations often depend on convenience store profits, and fewer cars means fewer customers for those too.

    Some stations will become fast food restaurants to draw more customers. But it'll be cheaper for fast food restaurants to add fast chargers and convenience store stock. So gas stations may well go out of business as gas sales go away.

  3. True.
    Also in a family with both EV and IC cars, the EV's are used more often due to lover running costs

  4. Boajun is GM as is Whuling,don't say they're cheap because you are calling the Chinese who buy them poor. The Bolt and Bolt EUV will go back into production this week,and will be in high demand as GM stood behind its products as opposed to Tesla who will tell you it's within spec.
    The most lusted after EV is the GM Hummer.They should have priced it at $150K but I guess they want to be disruptive, and price it low because they can.

  5. 100% YOY means that the numbers are doubling annually. Most new cars will be electric is 5 years. And most cars will be electric is 15 years.

  6. Got a negative feeling about Stellantis right now. They have zero EV presence in the US…still on that big truck trip. I love my 2015 500e. Utterly flawless for 80k miles, and maybe 2-3% of battery loss at this point. I keep meticulous distance/capacity data. Would love the newer and improved version. But it’s not for North American consumption. Stupid decision, with $5 gas.

  7. I would like to believe what you are saying, but I just don't see it. Maybe the Chinese companies are taking that market share, but the companies cannot *all* have their market share decrease at the same time. Someone must be taking up the market share that Tesla is putatively losing.

    I hate monopoly as much as the next guy, but siimply asserting that "market domination by one company is delusional" is an empty argument. Without some regulation, the normal behaviour of the market is actually monopoly, because of economies of scale. Look at what is happening to SpaceX.

  8. Tesla, like VW, global market share is coming down year by year. The Battery companies are able to make better batteries than Tesla. The market is normalizing, becoming a multi player market as other makers ramp up models and production. Vertical integration is loosing momentum as the market is growing and part makers get specialized. Any talk of market domination by one company is delusional.

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