The electric vehicle (EV) revolution is taking the world even more as each day goes by as thinking shifts from fossil fuels to all-electric – with visions of a brighter, more optimistic world come into view.
EV sales are increasing at such a rapid rate that new records were set on almost every month of 2021 with last November seeing over 720,000 new plug-in vehicle registrations. That record was convincingly thrashed the month after when numbers rose to over 907,000 – a nearly 60 percent increase in new EV registrations over December of 2020.
Aside from the increase of EV sales last year, its share of sales in the total vehicle market heightened as well, after recording about 15% of the entire vehicle registrations for the month of December. According to “Inside EVs”, 11% of all vehicles sold in December were battery electric, while the remaining four percent were plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Meanwhile, traditional self-charging hybrids were responsible for 650,000 new purchases. And with 6.5 million new electric vehicles sold last 2021, 2020’s numbers were trampled by more than double after its year-end figures only recorded 3.1 million in total units sold.
As expected, Tesla’s massive deliveries in 2021 were responsible for the lion’s share of this increase, with their Model 3 being the number one ‘best selling’ EV of the year, and their Model Y coming in third. Ranking second was China’s $5,000 Wuling Hong Guang Mini EV.
The EV market share rates have risen to a total of 10 percent across Europe and Asia. Meanwhile in the United States, hybrids are still – by far – topping over battery electric vehicles with 2021 seeing hybrid vehicle purchases rise to 76% – accounting for five percent of the total light vehicle sales.
Globally, the exponential growth of EV sales may be attributed to Tesla’s overwhelming popularity around the globe, but as more competition comes out from mainstream manufacturers and scales to meet demand, it can only be a question if Tesla shall continue to have the market dominance that it currently enjoys – or for how long. Given that 2021’s most popular electric vehicle will cost you over $40,000, while the next most popular EV is on sale for only an eighth of its American counterpart’s price, maybe it’s time for the whole industry to produce and sell “the cars of tomorrow” at more affordable price ranges.
