China: Plug-In Car Sales Climbed To Over 400,000 In May 2022

The volume more than doubled year-over-year, while market share expanded to 31%.

BYD Song PHEV

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Jun 25, 2022 at 2:26pm ET

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As the COVID-19 lockdowns come to an end, China is once again unlocking full speed of electrification.

According to EV Volumes' data, shared by Jose Pontes, some 403,029 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in China in May, which is 109% more than a year ago. The result represents also more than half of the global plug-in market.

The share of plug-in cars increased to 31%, including 23% for all-electric cars. BEVs remain in the majority, but PHEVs noted a higher growth rate (up 187% vs. 91% in the case of BEVs).

Results for the month:

BEVs: about *298,000 and 23% share
PHEVs: about *105,000 and 8% share
Total: 403,029 (up 109%) and 31% share

* estimated

Plug-in electric car sales in China – May 2022

So far this year, over 1.8 million new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in China.

BEVs: about *1.44 million and 20% share
PHEVs: about *0.36 million and 5% share
Total: 1,807,337 and 25% share

* estimated from the market share

For reference, in 2021, the total plug-in electric car registrations increased by about 153% year-over-year to over 3.2 million (from 1.27 million in 2020). In 2022, the total volume might reach 5-6 million, according to some forecasts.

Model rank

The Chinese plug-in market not only expands very quickly but is becoming more and more dominated by Chinese models. At least in May, the first non-Chinese model (the locally produced Tesla Model Y) was #16.

Top ten for the month:

Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV: 34,037
BYD Song (BEV + PHEV): 31,989
BYD Han (BEV + PHEV): 23,934
BYD Qin Plus (BEV + PHEV): 17,943
BYD Yuan Plus BEV: 11,500
Li Xiang One EREV: 11,496
GAC Aion S: 10,503
Chery eQ1 / Little Ant: 9,754
Chery QQ Ice Cream: 9,243
Changan Benni EV: 8,485

** BEV and PHEV versions of the same models were counted togheter in the source.*

With the growing position of BYD, many wonder whether Tesla will be able to return to the top after lockdowns derailed Shanghai's production in April and part of May.

BYD is now selling more than 100,000 cars regularly and has become the third most popular brand in China.

Results year-to-date:

Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV - 161,579
BYD Song (BEV + PHEV) - 127,304
BYD Qin Plus (BEV + PHEV) - 109,229
Tesla Model Y - 81,125
BYD Han (BEV + PHEV) - 71,786
BYD Dolphin - 48,138
BYD Tang (BEV + PHEV) - 47,691
Li Xiang One EREV - 47,380
Chery QQ Ice Cream - 44,434
Changan Benni EV - 41,298

Brands

The list of brands, once again, reveals a pretty strong position for BYD - no change compared to the previous month.

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Top plug-in brands by share in the plug-in segment year-to-date:

BYD: 27.9%
SAIC-GM-Wuling: 10.1%
Tesla: 6.6%
Chery: 4.9%
GAC: 4.2%

Top plug-in automotive groups by share in the plug-in segment year-to-date:

BYD: 27.9%
SAIC: 13.7%
including SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture (between SAIC, GM and Liuzhou Wuling Motors)
Tesla: 6.6%
Chery: 5.0%
Geely-Volvo: 4.6%
Volkswagen Group: 3.6%