Electric vehicles
With over 2% of global car sales, the electric car fleet is expanding quickly. Ambitious policy announcements have been critical in stimulating the electric mobility transition in major vehicle markets.
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Policies have major influences on the development of electric mobility. Policy approaches to promote the deployment of EVs typically start with a vision statement and a set of targets. An initial step is the adoption of electric vehicle and charging standards.
Economic incentives and regulatory measures are often coupled with other policies that increase the value proposition of EVs. Such policies often aim to harness the multiple co-benefits arising from greater electrification of transport, most prominently energy diversification in a sector that is 90% dependent on oil products and the reduction of local pollutant and GHG emissions. Measures that provide crucial incentives to scale up the availability of vehicles with low and zero tailpipe emissions include fuel economy standards, zero-emission vehicle mandates and the rise in the ambition of public procurement programmes.
Regulatory measures related to charging infrastructure include minimum requirements to ensure "EV readiness" in new or refurbished buildings and parking lots, deployment of publicly accessible chargers in cities and on highway networks, and are complemented by requirements regarding inter-operability and minimum availability levels for publicly accessible charging infrastructure.
Economic incentives and regulatory measures are often coupled with other policies that increase the value proposition of EVs. Such policies often aim to harness the multiple co-benefits arising from greater electrification of transport, most prominently energy diversification in a sector that is 90% dependent on oil products and the reduction of local pollutant and GHG emissions. Measures that provide crucial incentives to scale up the availability of vehicles with low and zero tailpipe emissions include fuel economy standards, zero-emission vehicle mandates and the rise in the ambition of public procurement programmes.
Regulatory measures related to charging infrastructure include minimum requirements to ensure "EV readiness" in new or refurbished buildings and parking lots, deployment of publicly accessible chargers in cities and on highway networks, and are complemented by requirements regarding inter-operability and minimum availability levels for publicly accessible charging infrastructure.
Last updated Aug 27, 2020
Key findings
Global electric car stock, 2010-2019
OpenGlobal sales of passenger cars were sluggish in 2019, but electric cars had another banner year
Sales of electric cars topped 2.1 million globally in 2019, surpassing 2018 – already a record year – to boost the stock to 7.2 million electric cars. Electric cars, which accounted for 2.6% of global car sales and about 1% of global car stock in 2019, registered a 40% year-on-year increase. As technological progress in the electrification of two/three-wheelers, buses, and trucks advances and the market for them grows, electric vehicles are expanding significantly.
Electric car share in the Sustainable Development Scenario, 2000-2030
OpenElectric vehicles are one of the few technologies on track under the Sustainable Development Scenario
Although ambitious policy announcements have been critical in stimulating the transition to electric mobility in major vehicle markets in recent years, direct subsidy reductions and phase-outs in 2019 indicate a continuing shift to policy approaches that rely more on regulatory and fiscal measures to underpin the deployment of EVs – including increasing reliance on supply-side measures such as zero-emission vehicles mandates and fuel economy standards. More comprehensive policies are critical to lay the foundation for a transition to electrification and to assuage stakeholder uncertainties. Increasingly stringent regulations on tailpipe CO2 emissions and mandates requiring that automakers sell a minimum share of zero- or low-emission vehicles are well suited to this purpose.
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In operation since 1993, the HEV TCP provides a forum for global co-operation on the development and deployment of electric vehicles. It supplies objective information to support decision making, functions as a facilitator for international collaboration in pre-competitive research and demonstration projects, fosters international exchange of information, and it can promote projects and programmes for research, development, demonstration and deployment.
