Electric vehicles are growing worldwide, except in Europe

Full electric cars and vans and plug-in hybrids register an overall +25%; the Old Continent loses 3%.

Audi charging

By: Riccardo Ciriaco

Published by: Brian Potter

Jan 16, 2025 at 3:33am ET

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Europe is the black sheep of change on the road. This is according to data on global sales of electric cars, vans and plug-in hybrids in 2024. The data, published by research firm Rho Motion, puts the old continent's minus sign in black and white: the only one in the world.

So let's look at the numbers. Analysts are talking about global growth of +25% in 2024, driven by the good performance of China (+40%), the United States and Canada (+9%) and the rest of the world (+27%). The European Union, EFTA and the United Kingdom, on the other hand, are at -3%.

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World sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in 2024

Total: 17.1 million (+25%)
China: 11 million (+40%)
EU, EFTA and UK: 3 million (-3%)
USA and Canada: 1.8 million (+9%)
Rest of the world: 1.3 million (+27%)

Worldwide sales of electric vehicles in 2024

Photo by: Associated Press

Bonuses and penalties

On the one hand, credit must be given for the sales incentives that rewarded sales in key regions such as China and the United States. However, on the other hand, the withdrawal of the same incentives in key markets such as Germany, which led to a collapse in deliveries and penalised the rest of the continent, is to blame.

"The 9% growth in North America can mainly be attributed to consumer subsidies, while the ZEV obligation in the UK has strongly incentivised manufacturers to push their low-emission cars. Meanwhile, the removal of subsidies in Germany has had a devastating impact on the entire European market; if the US follows suit, we could see the same scenario," comments and warns Charles Lester, head of data at Rho Motion.

The electric car market:

Opel, Fiat and Dacia plummet in German electric car sales in 2024