What are the best-selling EV cars globally?

Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining momentum, reaching 18% of global vehicle sales in 2023. Visual Capitalists, through a drawing by Bhabna Banerjee and text by Dorothy Neufeld, informs us about which are the most popular EV car models sold around the world, and, unfortunately, Europe is in terrible shape. To tell the truth, they are all in bad shape, except one country. The data was provided by CleanTechnica website.

The ranking is updated to August 2023

Below we present the same ranking, however, proposed as a table and indicating country, car manufacturer, model and cars sold:

As we can see, Tesla’s Model Y still holds a good lead over the competition, with 772,364 units sold. This is more than double the sales of the second-best-selling vehicle, Tesla’s Model 3 (364,403)

But things are changing and new competitors are entering; in fact, it is difficult to ignore the growing prevalence of Chinese electric vehicles. The next five best-selling EVs are Chinese, including three BYD. The automaker’s Act 3 (or Yuan Plus, depending on the market), is sold in various countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, and India.

Meanwhile, Chinese automaker GAC Group also placed two models from its Aion EV brand on the list, with the Aion S selling 160,693 units so far.

The only European car present is the VW ID4, which will be a success but less than what the German company expected, which, in fact, has reduced production. There are no Renault cars present, despite the Chinese-built Dacia Spring or Stellantis. Moreover, there are not even any GM or Ford cars present, showing how the electric market is in the hands of China and Tesla.

Considering increasing cost efficiency and changing consumer behavior, global sales of electric vehicles are expected to make up half of new car sales globally by 2035, Goldman Sachs forecasts.