Automotive industry 42 million cars with electric drive worldwide

The number of electric cars worldwide continues to rise rapidly. One country is decisive.

At the end of 2023, the number of cars with electric drives was around 42 million, according to the German Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW). That was a good 50 percent more than a year earlier. Not only purely electric vehicles were counted, but also plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles with a range extender, for which a small combustion engine is often used.

The home of the electric drive is clearly China: according to the ZSW, there were 23.4 million of these cars there on the reporting date - that is more than half of the global stock. The USA is number two, but with 4.8 million vehicles it is already far behind. Germany is in third place with 2.3 million, ahead of France and the United Kingdom with 1.6 and 1.5 million respectively.

Dominance likely to remain

China's dominance is also unlikely to change in the short term. In 2023, the number of vehicles there grew by 60%, significantly more than in the USA and most other relevant markets.

The largest manufacturers of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in 2023 were the Chinese brand BYD with just over 3 million new registrations, Tesla with 1.8 million and VW with one million. BMW was in sixth place with just under 570,000 vehicles and Mercedes in 10th place with just over 400,000. The ranking is also likely to be similar in terms of the number of vehicles in stock, at least in the first three places: At least this applies to the manufacturers' cumulative new registrations. However, the number of vehicles on the road may differ because cars break down or are taken out of service for other reasons. The ZSW did not provide real stock figures by brand.

Tesla Model Y is the world's most popular e-car

According to these cumulative new registration figures, the two most common cars with an electric drive come from Tesla: the Model Y with almost 2.5 million vehicles and the Model 3 with a good 2.3 million vehicles. However, the manufacturer also benefits from the fact that, given its rather narrow product range, purchases are concentrated on just a few models.

Experts believe that an attractive range in the lower and mid-range vehicle segments is urgently needed to reach a larger group of buyers in order to achieve the climate protection targets in Europe. If European manufacturers fail to fill this gap, there is a risk that other manufacturers, particularly from China, will seize this opportunity, even if the introduction of punitive tariffs at European level is currently trying to prevent this.