Abstract:

Pure electric vehicles currently make up 66 percent of the global EV market. BEV sales are growing faster than those of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV). The Chinese market expanded by 72 percent over the previous year in 2017. China has now a larger EV market—primarily BEVs—than Europe and the United States combined. After a successful pilot program in selected cities, the Chinese government decided last year to introduce green license plates for new energy vehicles (NEVs) across the country. A comparison of electric vehicle index (EVI) performance over time reveals that China has rapidly overtaken the United States and Germany in combined EVI scores. Europe’s EV market grew by nearly 40 percent from 2016 to 2017. In India both EV market acceptance and EV industry dynamics are at an early stage. Although the government rolled out a new tax policy to encourage EV adoption, a clear strategic road map is still missing. Since India’s carbon-dioxide levels from electricity generation are among the world’s highest, it also needs more renewable-energy sources for its EVs to achieve true “well-to-wheel” zero-emission status. Electric vehicles have made meaningful progress in several regions and countries as they passed the milestone of one million sales, in 2017. With demand rising and manufacturers ramping up production capacities, the market will continue to grow.