In April 2024, global registrations of plug-in electric cars increased by 25% year-over-year, which means that despite various challenges worldwide, the segment is expanding.
According to EV-Volumes data shared by researcher Jose Pontes, 1,221,181 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered globally in April. The market share amounted to roughly 18%, compared to 16% a year ago.
Global EV Sales Increases
In 2024, plug-in electric car sales might get close to 20 million units and a 20% share. After the first four months, the volume already exceeded 4.5 million, ahead of the usual acceleration in the second half of the year.
All-electric car registrations accounted for about 65% of all plug-in car registrations, which is almost 800,000 units. That’s up 14% year over year. Plug-in hybrid car registrations are estimated at almost 430,000, up 51% year over year.
So far this year, PHEVs are growing much faster than all-electric cars, mostly thanks to the Chinese market. It will be very interesting to see whether EVs can match this growth rate in the later part of the year.
Plug-in car registrations for the month (YOY change):
- BEVs: about *794,000 (up 14%) and 12% market share
- PHEVs: about *427,000 (up 51%) and 6% market share
- Total: 1,221,181 (up 25%) and 18% market share
* estimated
More than 4.5 million plug-in electric cars were registered worldwide in the first four months of the year, about 17% of the total volume.
Plug-in car registrations January-April (YOY change):
- BEVs: about *2.9 million and 11% market share
- PHEVs: about *1.6 million and 6% market share
- Total: 4,511,543 (up 29%) and 17% market share
* estimated
For reference, in 2023, almost 13.7 million plug-in electric cars have been registered worldwide, which was 16% of the total volume. That’s up compared to 14% in 2022, 9% in 2021 and 4% in 2020. 2024 should be even better, potentially close to 20 million units.
Model rank
In April, just like in the previous months, the Tesla Model Y continued to be the world’s best-selling plug-in model, with 68,586 new registrations. However, this result is 7% lower than a year ago, indicating that there is little room for expansion.
Meanwhile, BYD has six plug-in nameplates in the top 10, including sales of over 61,000 BYD Songs. The minimum threshold to get into the top 10 is over 15,000 units a month.
Top 10 for the month:
- Tesla Model Y – 68,586
- BYD Song – 61,324 (10,869 BEVs + 50,455 PHEVs)Â
- BYD Qin Plus – 46,876 (15,494 BEVs + 31,382 PHEVs)
- BYD Seagull (aka Dolphin Mini) – 36,536
- BYD Destroyer 05 (PHEV) – 33,150
- BYD Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3) – 29,654
- Tesla Model 3 – 24,858
- BYD Han – 22,164 (9,514 BEVs + 12,650 PHEVs)Â
- Volkswagen ID.4 – 15,299
- Aito M9: 15,139 (2,030 BEVs + 13,109 PHEVs)
* BEV and PHEV versions of the same models were counted together in the source.
So far this year, the top 10 plug-in electric cars globally include seven BYDs.
Brand rank
In terms of brands, BYD continued to sell the highest number of plug-in electric cars. Its most recent result of 309,062 in April is over three times higher than Tesla’s 98,947. However, Tesla offers only all-electric cars.
Top 10 for the month:
- BYD – 309,062
- Tesla – 98,947
- BMW – 43,950
- SAIC-GM-Wuling – 35,987
- Volkswagen – 34,662
- Volvo – 32,928
- Mercedes-Benz – 30,894
- Li Auto – 28,471
- Geely – 27,909
- Aion – 26,470
After the first four months of the year, we can see BYD is far ahead of any other company, while Tesla remains the best of the rest and the top one in the all-electric car segment.
Top Automotive Groups
BYD Group accounts for 20.8% of all plug-in car sales globally. Tesla and Geely-Volvo account for 10.8% and 7.8%respectively.
Top automotive groups by share in the plug-in segment in January-April:
- BYD Group – 20.8% (936,446)
- Tesla – 10.8% (485,661)
- Geely–Volvo – 7.8% (351,742)
- Volkswagen Group – 6.3% share (285,238)
- SAIC – 5.6% (252,469)
including the SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture (between SAIC, GM and Liuzhou Wuling Motors) - Stellantis – 4.0%
- BMW Group – 3.9%
- Changan – 3.8%
- Hyundai Motor Group – 3.6%
If we exclude plug-in hybrids, the comparison of automotive groups is significantly different. Tesla sold more all-electric cars than BYD during the first four months of the year, although the advantage is now relatively small.
Other manufacturers are noticeably behind but are progressing. The Volkswagen Group is currently fifth, behind Geely–Volvo and SAIC.
Top automotive groups by share in the all-electric segment in January-April:
- Tesla – 16.7% (485,661)
- BYD Group – 16.2% (469,450)
- Geely–Volvo – 7.2% (208,242)
- SAIC – 7.1% (205,598)
including SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture (between SAIC, GM, and Liuzhou Wuling Motors) - Volkswagen Group – 6.8% share (196,706)
- BMW Group – 4.1%
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