It’s a bleak time for America’s electric car market. But zoom out and take a look at what’s happening in the rest of the world, and you quickly see that the U.S. is increasingly the odd one out. As the U.S. stagnates, the EV project is chugging along nicely pretty much everywhere else, according to a new, wide-ranging report out this week from the International Energy Agency.
Over 20 million plug-in cars were sold globally last year, including both plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles. That means 25% of new vehicles had a plug, a new record. About 5% of the global car fleet is now electrified.
The IEA expects sales of EVs and PHEVs to keep growing this year—just not in America. Photo by: Tim Levin/InsideEVs
The U.S. was far behind the average, with plug-in car sales coming in below 10% of the market. EV sales in the U.S. plunged in the fourth quarter and are likely to drop this year as car companies pull back production and as the loss of the $7,500 tax credit dings demand. It’s full-speed ahead in other regions, though:
In China, 13.2 million plug-in cars were sold last year, representing 53% of that market.
