Electric Auto Industry: What You Need To Know
The global automotive market is in a time of historic change. The demand for new technologies has changed the market, while changing attitudes towards climate change have created the perfect environment for a new type of vehicle.
Worldwide sales of commercial vehicles and passenger cars fell by more than 4% in 2019. According to Statista reports, sales in 2020 could fall below 62 million vehicles, a far cry from 80 million in 2017. However, within this market, trends in the electric vehicle sector (or sub-sector) have given dealers and investors a lot to think about.
In 2019, EV sales reached 2.1 million units, representing a growth of more than 12,200% in 10 years. The International Energy Agency (IA) estimates that around 7.2 million electric cars were in circulation by the end of 2019.
Despite the automotive decline in 2020, the electric car sector is expected to maintain its market position and generate nearly 3% of total global automotive sales.
Government intervention is one of the key factors in the resilience of the electric vehicle market. In countries around the world, a number of government programs have been introduced with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions and encouraging people to buy electric vehicles through various incentives.
This suggests that the electric vehicle market will simply continue to grow and that China is expected to become a leading manufacturing hub.
In 2019, China was the world’s largest electric vehicle market with 2.3 million active electric vehicles – that’s nearly half (45%) of the world’s electric vehicle inventory. In contrast, Europe and the US had 1.2 million and 1.1 million electric vehicles, respectively.
It is expected that there will be over 500 electric vehicle models in the market by 2022, further encouraging the rapid development of new technologies and increasing competition in this growing market. Tesla is the largest electric vehicle manufacturer by market capitalization, although production only began 12 years ago. Other, traditional vehicle manufacturers such as BMW, Volkswagen and Nissan and General Motors have made significant advances in electric vehicles in recent years.
However, these aren’t the only electric car companies that are attracting consumers and investors. Companies like NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto have gained prominence in China and the rest of the world because of their capabilities and potential.
