Global electric vehicle market grew 70.7 percent annually in Q1 2022
According to Researcher and Research LLC, the global electric vehicle (EV) market grew to 2.004 million units in the first quarter of 2022, with a year on year (YoY) growth of 70.7%.
Figure 1 Global quarterly EV sales and annual growth rates, Q1'21-Q1'22
The proportions of battery electric vehicle (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) were 72.8% and 27.2%, respectively, compared with 67.5% and 32.5% of the same period last year, BEV was on a rise.
In terms of EV sales volume and market shares in major countries, China remains the world's largest EV sales country, with an annual growth rate of 145.0% and a market share of 56.5%, up significantly from 39.4% in the same period last year. With annual growth of 61.1%, the US had overtook Germany to become the world's second-largest market by sales, as shown in figure 2, with its market share slightly falling to 9.3% from 9.8% in the same period last year. Germany, the third-largest sales country, grew 6.1% a year and its market share fell to 7.6% from 12.2%. The proportion of the top three countries rose to 73.3% from 61.3% in the same period last year, while this growth was mainly driven by China's rising market share.
Fourth place went to the UK, with an annual growth rate of 60.9% and a market share of 4.7%, slightly down from 5.0% a year earlier. Followed by France, with a yearly growth rate of 18.2%, and its market share declined from 5.2% to 3.6%. The share of the top five countries increased to 81.6% from 71.6% in the same period last year.
In the sixth to tenth place sales countries, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Italy, and the Netherlands had very similar market shares, ranging from 1-2%. Among them, only Norway and Italy recorded a 2.1% and 4.7% decline, respectively, in annual growth, while the rest showed positive development. The proportion of the top 10 was up to 89.1% from 80.9% of the same period last year, and among them, only China, Belgium and the Netherlands increased. In addition, the annual growth rate of non-top 10 countries was only 2.4%, significantly lower than that of the top 10 countries with 85.8%.
Figure 2 Sales units of the global top 10 EV sales countries in Q1'21 vs Q1'22
In terms of EV and BEV penetration among major countries, Norway had the highest global EV penetration, growing to 90.1% from 82.0% in last year's same period, and remarkably, Norway also had the highest BEV penetration in the world, significantly increased from 52.8% to 82.9%, as shown in figure 3. In contrast, the US had the lowest EV penetration among the top 10 countries, with EV and BEV penetrations growing from 3.0% and 2.2% to 5.6% and 4.3%, respectively.
Italy led only the US in EV penetration among the top 10 countries, but had the lowest BEV penetration. The penetrations of its EV and BEV increased from 5.8% and 2.4% to 7.7% and 2.8%, respectively. As the world’s largest sales country, China's EV and BEV penetration rates grew significantly from 9.1% and 7.7% last year to 21.9% and 17.4% this year.
Compared with last year's same period, EV penetration in the top 10 sales countries grew the most in Sweden and Belgium, followed by the Netherlands, China, the UK, and Norway. The least growing countries were Italy, Germany, and the US. In terms of BEV penetration, the most significant growth was in Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and China, while the least growing countries were Italy, the US, and Germany. Among the top 10 countries, only Belgium and Italy were still dominated by PHEV.
Figure 3 Changes in EV and BEV penetration rates of the global top 10 EV sales countries, Q1'21 vs Q1'22
The supply chain still appears to be the biggest obstacle to EV market growth this year. And the Russian invasion of Ukraine has also had a series impact on the auto industry, such as rising prices of raw materials and the shutdown of factories. Even EV automakers using long-term supply contracts and other pricing mechanisms, EV price increases has becoming a reality. As the sales for EVs are pretty strong, which have benefited from government subsidies and policy support, the issues of the global EV market growth are mainly on the supply side. We currently maintain our previous estimate for the 2022 global EV market at 10.702 million units, representing an annual growth rate of 67.5%.