From Petroleum to Electricity: Global Vehicle Market Transformation Accelerating

(8 December 2020) Over the last several years industry insiders, investors, urban planners, and environmentalists alike have debated over scenarios for a global transition from 'classic' internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs) and the impact on the automotive industry as well as the global energy balance. Since EVs were then and are still now a relatively new phenomenon, predictions about the path to transport electrification have been met with a healthy dose of skepticism. With the latest data on global EV sales, the days of skepticism have ended.

• Sales of electric vehicles grew 127 percent year-over-year in October, according to InsideEVs, representing 4.9 percent of global passenger cars sales. In other words, for the month of October one out of every 20 cars sold globally was an electrical vehicle.
• While global sales of traditional ICE cars are still recovering from the disruptive impact of COVID-19, global EV sales returned to pre-COVID rates as of July. In fact, during the first 10 months of 2020, 2.1 million electric vehicles were sold globally, a 22 percent increase over the same period of 2019. In contrast, ICE vehicle sales are down 18 percent for the same period.