Global Demand for EVs: Market Shifts and Growth Trends by Country in 2024 and 2025

Written by Michael Fisher

Michael Fisher is an active trader and market analyst. He holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from University of Pennsylvania and started his career as a private Forex trader back in 2005.

, | Updated: June 25, 2025

In 2025, when governments and automakers have already poured billions into electrification, electric vehicles still struggle to compete with petrol and diesel cars, not just in the used cars market but also in new vehicle sales. Nations have pledged to reduce their environmental impact with dozens of resolutions, green policies, and international treaties, including the Paris Agreement, which the U.S. abandoned in January for the second time.

Still, the internal combustion engine continues to rule most of the world, with only a handful of nations (talking about the Nordics, of course) intending to completely replace hydrocarbon-based fuels with greener alternatives. Curious to track the global demand for electric cars, the team at Tradingpedia examined the latest sales and new registrations figures from the International Energy Agency and the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

We found out that while in Europe, the growth of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) is somewhat slowing down due to a whole host of reasons, sales in Asia are exploding, with BEVs accounting for nearly half (48%) of all new cars being sold in China specifically.

Key Highlights

The largest number of EVs was sold in China in 2024: 11.3 million vehicles were purchased, up 39.5% from 2023.
Nordics continue to lead the world when it comes to the share of EV sales versus petrol: 92% of newly registered cars in Norway are electric.
EVs account for 58% of new cars sold in Sweden, 56% in Denmark, and 50% in Finland.
Still, sales of EVs dropped in Europe last year by 2.18% year-over-year to 2.93 million.

Share of EVs Around the World

Share of BEVs and PHEVs of new car sales and registrations in 2024

Are EVs Really Replacing ICE Cars?

While electric vehicles (EVs) continue to gain ground across Europe, the extent to which they are replacing internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles varies significantly by country. In Norway, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) made up 88.9% of new car registrations in 2024, the highest share in Europe, while both petrol and diesel shares declined (petrol down 33%, diesel down 8%), reinforcing the view that EVs are actively displacing traditional fuels. A similar trend is visible in the Netherlands, where BEV share grew to 13%, while petrol and diesel dropped by 28% and 9%, respectively. The share of BEVs and plug-in hybrids climbed to 48.5%, while traditional hybrids accounted for 28.1% of new registrations.

However, this replacement effect is not uniform. In Germany, despite a sharp 27% drop in BEV share, PHEV sales increased by over 9% from 2023. Still, petrol registrations also increased slightly by 1.36%, pushing petrol’s market share to 35.2%. This suggests a temporary rebound in ICE sales, likely due to the abrupt removal of BEV subsidies. Interestingly, France experienced a 2.55% drop in BEV sales and a 10.16% decline in PHEVs, and even a more pronounced 20.9% decrease in petrol car sales, and 27.2% fall in diesel, indicating that the growing adoption of hybrids (up 36.2%) is doing much of the heavy lifting in decarbonising the fleet.

Outside Europe, similar divergences emerge. China, while leading in absolute BEV numbers (6.4 million units sold in 2024), has also seen a corresponding reduction in ICE market share, supported by aggressive policy mandates, local manufacturing, and charging infrastructure. In 2024, the sales of BEVs and PHEVs reached 11.3 million, accounting for 48% of all new car sales. In contrast, EVs comprised 38% of newly purchased cars in 2023.

Vietnam and Indonesia, where the BEV share more than doubled, are beginning to displace petrol vehicles in urban areas, though overall ICE dominance remains strong (EV sales account for just 4.6% of all new car sales in Vietnam and 7.3% in Indonesia). In the United States, the EV market share edged up only slightly (from 9.5% to 10% year-over-year), and ICE vehicles continue to dominate, particularly in less urbanised regions, although plug-in hybrid sales are on the rise, up 10.34% from 2023. Still, the 6.3 million EVs on American roads account for just 2.7% of the entire stock.

New Zealand, on the other hand, saw a sharp decline in EV sales share (from 27% in 2023 to 11% in 2024), suggesting a reversal in consumer trends. From roughly 30 thousand battery-electric and plug-in electric vehicles sold in 2023, the numbers dropped to just 9,700 in 2024.

These contrasting trends show that while EVs are growing globally, they are not yet consistently replacing ICE cars across all markets. In many cases, EVs are still supplementing rather than displacing fossil-fuel models. The pace and permanence of this transition depend heavily on policy incentives, consumer preferences, and infrastructure maturity, all key factors in shaping this transition.

Largest Sales of EVs in 2024

Countries with the Largest Number of EV Sales in 2024

Global BEV sales were overwhelmingly led by China, which reached 6.4 million units in 2024, reinforcing its status as the largest EV market in the world. Another 4.9 million plug-in hybrids were sold.

The United States follows with 1.2 million BEVs and 320 thousand plug-in hybrids, an undisputed leader in North America. Canada, on the other hand, registered 190 thousand sales of BEVs, up from 130 thousand in 2023. Overall, 252,000 EVs were purchased in the country last year, up 47.37% from the previous period. The increase in Mexico was more significant, 68.32% more EVs were sold in 2024 compared to 2023; yet, this represents only 27,100 cars or around 2.2% of all new car sales.

Europe’s electric vehicle market in 2024 was once again dominated by a handful of leading countries. Germany led with 572,514 new registrations, narrowly surpassing the United Kingdom, where 549,148 EVs were sold. France follows with 437,006 units, while Belgium (194,737) and the Netherlands (184,747) round out the top five.

Combined, these five countries account for approximately 66% of all BEV registrations across the EU, EFTA, and the UK in 2024. However, China alone sells more BEVs than all of Europe and North America combined.

Impressive Growth in EV Sales in Certain Markets

Countries Where EV Sales Increased the Most Between 2023 and 2024

While some European markets saw stagnation or policy-driven setbacks, many non-European countries experienced faster and broader EV adoption in 2024. Indonesia saw a huge spike in EV sales last year, up 186% from 2023 to over 49 thousand units. Another country where EVs exploded was Chile, where sales grew by over 165% year-over-year to the much less impressive 5,600 cars.

Hardly surprising, the quick adoption of EVs in countries such as this does not necessarily mean people are replacing petrol and diesel but suggests increasing interest in alternative means of transport. The maturing of the market in Europe and North America, on the other hand, leads to a slowdown in sales growth, with a few interesting exceptions. Canada, specifically, saw EV sales climb by more than 47% year-over-year to more than 250 thousand; current stock includes more than 860 thousand vehicles. In 2024, EVs accounted for 17% of all new car sales.

Several European countries still saw notable increases in EV sales, with annual growth in registrations reaching nearly 32% in the Czech Republic, 29.1% in Estonia, 26% in Hungary, and almost 22% in Croatia. Sales in the United Kingdom also climbed by 20% to roughly 550 thousand.

Petrol Cars Still Favoured by Europeans but Hybrids Are on the Rise

Europe New Car Sales by Type in 2024

Despite the growth in the new EVs registered in certain European markets last year, this was a slight drop from 2023. In 2024, battery-electric and plug-in electric vehicles across Europe reached 2,928,551, down 2.18% from 2023. Hybrids, however, gained popularity with a little over 4 million cars purchased, up 19.6% from 2023.

The number of petrol vehicles registered in 2024 is only slightly higher, at 4.2 million, whereas diesel accounts for roughly 1.3 million of all new registrations in Europe. Overall, diesel cars represent 10.4% of new car sales; petrol vehicles account for 33%, and hybrids are 31.4% of all. EVs, including battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, account for 22.7% of all new registrations. Apart from hybrids, there is a slight drop in the sales of all types of cars across the continent, with diesel cars seeing the largest decline, 11.8%, compared to 2023.

Chinese Brands Replacing Traditional EV Leaders

Top Selling car Brands by EV Sales in Q1 2025

In 2024, Chinese EV maker BYD surpassed the long-standing leader Tesla in global sales, marking a significant shift in the EV market. Since 2023, BYD has become the best-selling car brand in China after overtaking Germany’s Volkswagen and is now breaking new records.

In April, the company sold 7,231 battery-electric cars in Europe, beating Tesla with its 7,165 cars for the first time since it expanded to the broader European market in 2022. With 23,514 BEVs registered during the month, however, Volkswagen remained the leader on the continent, followed by BMW (14,867 new registrations) and Škoda (13,598 registrations). Škoda Elroq, a brand new compact crossover SUV, was the most sold EV model with roughly 8 thousand registrations.

If we look at global sales, however, BYD, along with plenty of other Chinese car manufacturers, are quickly overtaking American and European brands. In the first three months of the year (the period for which data for all brands was available), BYD sold more than 900 thousand battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids around the world, whereas Tesla sales were a little over 336 thousand.

The strength of China’s auto manufacturing sector is apparent if we look at the sheer number of top-selling EV brands in the first quarter of the year. Apart from BYD, there are sizable registrations of various Chinese brands, including Geely, Wuling, and Xpeng; half of the top 20 global sellers of electric vehicles are based in China.

To examine the sales of electric vehicles around the world, we looked at new car registrations data published by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) for the period January – December 2023 and 2024, as well as figures sourced from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

We also used additional information from multiple online sources, including EV Volumes, Marklines, the European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO), and the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA).