The number of electric vehicles worldwide rose by around 50% last year

The number of cars with electric drivetrains worldwide continues to grow. At the end of 2023, there were around 42 million, roughly 50% more than a year earlier. The figure includes not only fully electric cars, but also plug-in hybrids and range-extended electric vehicles, which often use a small combustion engine. China is the largest market for electric vehicles. The DPA news agency reported the figures, citing data from the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW).

At the end of last year, there were 23.4 million electric vehicles in China, more than half the global total. The United States ranked second, but was far behind, with just 4.8 million vehicles at the end of last year. Germany came third with 2.3 million vehicles. France and the UK also rank among the five largest markets.

Last year, the largest manufacturers of fully electric cars and plug-in hybrids were China’s BYD, Tesla and Volkswagen. More than three million BYD vehicles were registered last year, compared with 1.8 million Teslas and one million Volkswagen vehicles.

According to ZSW, the world’s most widely registered models are Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3. Nearly 2.5 million Model Y vehicles and around 2.3 million Model 3 vehicles are registered worldwide.