Electric vehicle sales in the global market are set to surpass 20 million units and hit a share of over 20% in the overall auto market in 2023, Focus Taiwan reports, citing an Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) expert’s remarks on Monday.
Forecasts
ITRI’s Industry, Science and Technology International Strategy Center (ISTI) Manager Hsieh Lu-lin expects the electric vehicle industry to expand faster than the entire auto market this year.
Lu-lin asserted his forecasts that global EV sales will surge 28.3% to 20.64 million units, with Japanese legacy automaker Toyota dominating the industry. It is projected to account for approximately 14% of the market in 2023, owing to its wide range of EV models, including plug-in and hybrid vehicles.
Chinese industry leader BYD is expected to follow suit with a 13.9% market share primarily due to its 54.6% sales growth in 2023.
It is also worth noting that the overall global auto market is projected to enjoy a 6.1% sales growth to 86.6 million units this year as the COVID-induced chip shortage alleviates.
Unsurprisingly, the ITRI expert remained optimistic about China’s position as the leading automotive market globally this year. It is projected to account for 32.3% of the market despite the major economic slowdown. The US is expected to claim the second spot with an 18.2% market share. India and Japan will follow with 6% and 5.6% market shares, respectively.
Global EV sales – September
It would be unsurprising for the global electric vehicle market to reach or even surpass Manager Lu-lin’s forecast for 2023, considering the nearly 1.3 million unit sales in September alone.
EV-Volumes data revealed that new passenger plug-in electric car registrations recorded a total of 1,291,077 units in the ninth month of the year, up 23% YoY. This result enabled plug-in cars to gain a market share of 17%.
Of that total, around 890,000 were battery-electric vehicles with a 12% market share. Plug-in hybrids sold about 400,000 units, accounting for 5% of the market.
| Powertrain | Sales | Market Share |
| BEVs | about *890,000 | 12% |
| PHEVs | about *400,000 | 5% |
| Total | 1,291,077 (up 23%) | 17% |
Year to date, global plug-in electric car registrations reached over 9.4 million units. It is around 16% of the overall volume, as per InsideEVs‘ estimates.
| Powertrain | Sales | Market Share |
| BEVs | *over 6.5 million | – |
| PHEVs | *over 2.8 million | – |
| Total | 9,459,019 (up 39%) | over 16% |
Tesla Model Y leads in September
As expected, Tesla’s all-electric SUV Model Y dominated the rankings. It sold a total of 121,258 units in September alone.
The BYD Song Plus family followed with 63,800 unit sales, including 10,108 BEVs + 53,692 PHEVs.
Other BYD models claimed the next 4 spots, including BYD Qin Plus (43,010), BYD Yuan Plus (35,378), BYD Seagull (35,012) and BYD Dolphin (27,240). Refer to the table below:
| Ranking | Models | Sales |
| 1 | Tesla Model Y | 121,258 |
| 2 | BYD Song Plus | 63,800 (10,108 BEVs + 53,692 PHEVs) |
| 3 | BYD Qin Plus | 43,010 (11,844 BEVs + 31,166 PHEVs) |
| 4 | BYD Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3) | 35,378 |
| 5 | BYD Seagull | 35,012 |
| 6 | BYD Dolphin | 27,240 |
| 7 | GAC Aion Y | 27,004 |
| 8 | Tesla Model 3 | 26,058 |
| 9 | BYD Han | 22,936 (10,554 BEVs + 12,382 PHEVs) |
| 10 | GAC Aion S | 21,548 |
All that considered, electric vehicles undoubtedly have a strong potential to claim 20% of the global market. According to IEA, EV sales surpassed 10 million units last year. Now, the ITRI projects the market to sell more than 20 million units in 2023. It would be exciting to see how the market would progress with the remaining less than 2 months before the year ends.
