Global Plug-In Electric Car Sales Increased 10% In January 2023

The expansion continues with BYD and Tesla far ahead of other brands.

Tesla Model Y

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Mar 11, 2023 at 2:15pm ET

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January 2023 has brought a slight growth in global plug-in electric car sales, despite things like holidays and no more BEV subsidies in China, as well as reduced incentives in many European markets.

According to EV-Volumes data, shared by Jose Pontes, some 662,400 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in January. That's about 10 percent more than a year ago and about 11 percent of the total market.

It's expected that sales will accelerate later this year and once again will exceed one million units per month.

Plug-in car registrations:

BEVs: about *457,700 (up 5% year-over-year) and 7.6% share
PHEVs: about *204,700 (up 21% year-over-year) and 3.4% share
Total: 662,400 (up 10% year-over-year) and 11% share

* estimated from the market share

Global Plug-In Electric Car Sales – January 2023

For reference, in 2022, more than 10 million new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered globally for the very first time.

Plug-in car registrations in 2022:

BEVs: about *7.2 million and 10% share
PHEVs: about *2.9 million and 4% share
Total: 10,091,164 (up 55% year-over-year) and roughly 14% share

* estimated from the market share

Model rank

The Tesla Model Y continues to be the best-selling electric car (and the best-selling rechargeable car in general), with 54,417 new registrations in January.

The second most popular car was the BYD Song Plus (BEVs and PHEVs counted together in the source), with 49,889 units (over 42,000 PHEVs).

The third best was the Tesla Model 3 with 42,496 registrations. Those three numbers are significantly ahead of the other plug-ins.

It's worth noting how many Chinese models are on the list (seven in the top 10) with only two Teslas and one Volkswagen from the rest of the world.

Top 10 for the month:

Tesla Model Y - 54,417
BYD Song Plus (BEV + PHEV) - 49,889
Tesla Model 3 - 42,496
BYD Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3) - 23,279
BYD Dolphin - 17,412
Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV - 16,418
BYD Han (BEV + PHEV) - 12,294
BYD Qin Plus (BEV+PHEV) - 11,593
BYD Tang (BEV + PHEV) - 8,959
Volkswagen ID.4 - 8,771

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

Brand rank

Just like in previous months, BYD remains the top brand in terms of monthly plug-in electric car sales volume. In January, the Chinese brand noted 143,784 new registrations.

Tesla also was able to achieve a six-digit number (100,760) and it's 100% all-electric, but let's not forget that nearly half of BYD sales are BEVs as well.

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Comments

The other brands can't compete with the leaders in terms of volume. Interestingly, there are five non-Chinese brands in the top 10 - including BMW as #3 ahead of Volkswagen. We guess that after January, things will start to look different.

Top 10 for the month:

BYD - 143,783
Tesla - 100,760
BMW - 28,593
Volkswagen - 22,426
Mercedes-Benz - 19,624
Volvo - 19,003
Changan - 18,408
SAIC-GM-Wuling - 17,677
SAIC - 15,640
Li Auto - 15,380