The bar chart shows the number of electric cars sold in China, Europe, and the United States of America between 2016 and 2023. Overall, electric car sales increased in all three markets during the period covered by the chart.
Generally, electric car sales grew between 2016 and 2023 in all three regions, albeit at very different rates. China experienced the most dramatic growth, but it was not the most consistent. China started out strong with 300,000 cars sold in 2016, but its sales plateaued in 2018 at just over 1 million sales and stayed there through 2020. In 2021 sales nearly stayed there through 2020. In 2021 sales nearly tripled, and they nearly doubled again in 2022 to reach 6 million cars sold. Chinese sales reached 8 million by the end of 2023.
Europe demonstrated a more steady and consistent growth pattern throughout the period, starting at about 200,000 electric cars in 2016. The region’s growth notably accelerated from 2019 onwards, enabling Europe to briefly surpass China’s market in 2020. This momentum continued with substantial year-on-year increases, leading to 3.4 million sales by 2023. The United States, despite sharing the same starting point as Europe in 2016, showed much slower progress. After an initial period of fluctuation between 2016 and 2020, the U.S. market lagged significantly behind both European and Chinese markets, with sales reaching only 1.6 million units by 2023, less than half of Europe’s total.