Electric vehicle adoption hits new heights

While still a minority, electric vehicles in circulation are set to pass 25 million by the end of this year, according to new projections, with China and Europe driving sales far ahead of North America.

Why it matters

A 25x increase in six years is a testament to changing attitudes as well as ongoing adaptations to infrastructure, and a lot of the marketing work that normalised a very new, very different kind of car.

What’s going on

According to a report in Bloomberg, based on data from Bloomberg’s proprietary research service BNEF (New Energy Finance), there will be around 26 million electric vehicles on the roads by the end of this year.

Numbers at a glance

Most of those cars were sold in the last 18 months:

• In China, the 7.4m cars in circulation at the end of 2021 will grow to 13m.
• In Europe, 2021’s 5.4m EVs will become 8.5m. (N.B. Europe accounts for most of the additional +5million hybrids in circulation.)
• North America’s 2.4m will grow to 3.8m.

This is truly remarkable growth. In 2016, there were just one million EVs in circulation. Earlier forecasts from the same source expected 71m EVs globally by 2035 but now expects that mark to be reached 10 years ahead of schedule.

What’s driving it?

Several ideas about EVs are growing more sophisticated:

• Research from Facebook found that EV drivers are motivated by more than just the environment: They need to feel the benefit on a personal level, whether it's saving money, looking good to others, or having a more pleasurable experience.
• Normalisation is happening outside government transport departments and car manufacturers. Brands that operate stores are increasingly thinking about how they can help to create infrastructure; this is especially important in the United States (both car reliant and geographically massive).

Sourced from Bloomberg, WARC