Plug-in electric vehicle sales officially surpassed the 1 million-unit mark in March 2023. Jose Pontes reports, citing EV-Volumes data, that there were 1,097,196 new passenger plug-in electric car registrations globally in the third month of the year.
Global plug-in electric car sales – March 2023
As mentioned, plug-in EV sales recorded a whopping 1,097,196 units, representing a year-on-year growth of 28%. That figure accounted for 16% of the overall auto market.
Of that total, battery-powered electric vehicle registrations contributed more than 800,000 units with a 12% market share. Without even including plug-in hybrids, it may soon exceed a million units.
Meanwhile, plug-in hybrid registrations recorded 274,000 units, representing 4% of the market.
For the first time in a single month, non-rechargeable hybrids also sold more than one million units, or 1,000,004, per the report.
Global plug-in car registrations in March:
| Powertrain | Sales | Changes | Share |
| BEVs: | about *823,000 | – | 12% |
| PHEVs: | about *274,000 | – | 4% |
| Total: | 1,097,196 | 28% YoY | 16% |
Global plug-in car registrations – Q1 2023
Global plug-in electric car registrations reached over 2.5 million units in the year’s first quarter, representing around 13% of the overall volume.
Plug-in car registrations YTD:
| Powertrain | Sales | Changes | Share |
| BEVs: | about *1.84 million | – | 9% |
| PHEVs: | about *0.73 million | – | 4% |
| Total: | 2,569,127 | up 29% YoY | roughly 13% |
In hindsight, passenger plug-in electric car registrations hit over 10 million units worldwide in 2022.
Top selling models
America’s Tesla Model Y set a new monthly high of 145,306 new registrations, owning the “best result ever” for any electric vehicle to date.
In addition, the Tesla Model Y outsold all other vehicles (regardless of powertrain), including the Toyota Corolla and Toyota RAV4.
Its sibling Tesla Model 3 secured the second spot with 57,581 registrations.
Four BYD models followed the two Tesla EVs, combining sales of BEV and PHEV variants.
Top 10 in April:
| Ranking | Model | Sales |
| 1 | Tesla Model Y | 145,306 |
| 2 | Tesla Model 3 | 57,581 |
| 3 | BYD Song Plus (BEV + PHEV) | 40,388 |
| 4 | BYD Qin Plus (BEV + PHEV) | 40,233 |
| 5 | BYD Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3) | 38,851 |
| 6 | BYD Dolphin | 30,290 |
| 7 | GAC Aion S | 26,393 |
| 8 | Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV | 23,160 |
| 9 | Volkswagen ID.4 | 15,530 |
| 10 | BYD Han (BEV + PHEV) | 13,923 |
In Q1 2023, the Tesla Model Y dominated the market with sales of 279,700 units. The BYD Song family (142,924) is trailing far behind Model Y.
Seven Chinese plug-ins and five BYD model families are among the top 10, demonstrating China’s dominance in 2023.
Top brands
This time, Tesla (207,655 units) came in slightly above BYD (195,484) as the most popular plug-in brand. Unexpectedly, BMW (40,787) came in barely on top of Volkswagen (40,278) and GAC (40,031).
| Ranking | Brand | Sales |
| 1 | Tesla | 207,655 |
| 2 | BYD | 195,484 |
| 3 | BMW | 40,787 |
| 4 | Volkswagen | 40,278 |
| 5 | GAC | 40,031 |
| 6 | Mercedes-Benz | 32,639 |
| 7 | SAIC-GM-Wuling | 28,757 |
| 8 | SAIC | 26,400 |
| 9 | Volvo | 26,206 |
| 10 | Changan | 26,128 |
See Also:
- Plug-in car sales topped 800,000 globally in February, 2023
- BYD passenger plug-in car sales surpassed 150,000 units globally in January 2023
- Global EV charging revenue to exceed $300 billion by 2027
- Volvo’s global plug-in car sales recovered to 20,000 in October 2022
- Hyundai Motor nearly doubled global plug-in car sales in January 2023
In Q1 2023, BYD is still the leading plug-in automaker, outpacing Tesla by a significant margin. It may stay the same because BYD sells more BEVs and PHEVs than Tesla. The only market leader in the all-electric vehicle segment is, of course, Tesla.
