Abstract:

Globally, the electric vehicle market is growing quickly but remains a small component of the transportation landscape. However, leading cities around the world are developing policies and implementing promotion programs to overcome the barriers to passenger electric vehicle adoption. These top electric markets are providing a first look at how mainstream electric vehicle markets are emerging, and the associated policies offer a guide for other cities to learn from and tailor policies to their own market. This briefing assesses metropolitan area-level data on electric vehicle registrations and identifies the 25 largest electric vehicle markets, which together represent 42% of new passenger electric vehicle sales globally through 2018. To provide a blueprint for other governments, this briefing analyzes the incentives, charging infrastructure, and city promotion actions in these areas that are spurring electric vehicles into the mainstream. From this research, following three conclusions are made i.e. (1) Cities in China continue to be the largest markets globally. (2) Cities adapt as electric vehicles enter the mainstream. (3) As the global market grows, the role of the top cities remains crucial.