Global Plug-In Electric Car Sales Exceeded 800,000 In February 2023

The average market share improved to 14 percent.

Tesla Model Y

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Apr 12, 2023 at 11:40am ET

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February 2023 was another strong month for plug-in electric car sales around the world, as the volume noticeably increased.

According to EV-Volumes data, shared by Jose Pontes, some 812,487 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered globally in February. That's about 49 percent more than a year ago and about 14 percent of the total market.

If nothing bad happens, soon sales should once again reach one million units per month, and potentially never return to below seven digits.

As we can see below, the segment is dominated by all-electric models (almost 10 percent market share), which are more than two times more popular than plug-in hybrids.

Plug-in car registrations:

BEVs: about *562,900 and 9.7% share
PHEVs: about *249,500 and 4.3% share
Total: 812,487 (up 49% year-over-year) and 14% share

* estimated from the market share

Global Plug-In Electric Car Sales – February 2023

During the first two months of the year, close to 1.5 million plug-in electric cars were registered around the world, which is 13 percent of the total volume.

Plug-in car registrations year-to-date in 2023:

BEVs: about *0.99 million and 8.7% share
PHEVs: about *0.49 million and 4.3% share
Total: 1,476,465 (up 29% year-over-year) and roughly 13% share

* estimated from the market share

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

Model rank

The Tesla Model Y remains the best-selling electric car (81,079 units in February), extending its advantage over the BYD Song Plug family (52,644 units when BEV and PHEV versions are counted together), and leaving other plug-ins far behind.

The Tesla Model 3 was the third best with 36,863 registrations, slightly ahead of multiple Chinese plug-in models.

Top 10 for the month:

Tesla Model Y - 81,079
BYD Song Plus (BEV + PHEV) - 52,644
Tesla Model 3 - 36,863
BYD Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3) - 32,215
Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV - 30,271
BYD Qin Plus (BEV+PHEV) - 27,439
BYD Dolphin - 22,838
GAC Aion S - 16,828
GAC Aion Y - 13,001
BYD Han (BEV + PHEV) - 12,342

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

After the first two months, the picture is becoming slightly clearer and once again indicates to us that there are only two Western BEVs at the top, in the sea of Chinese plug-ins, which are quickly gaining popularity. The next non-Chinese model is the Volkswagen ID.4 (#11 with just under 20,000 units.

Brand rank

In terms of brands, BYD has strengthened at the top (184,333), more than 50 percent ahead of Tesla (120,864), although we must remember that Tesla is selling only BEVs, while BYD sells both PHEVs and BEVs (slightly more PHEVs than BEVs).

The total volume of these two manufacturers significantly outpaces the other brands.

Top 10 for the month:

BYD - 184,333
Tesla - 120,864
SAIC-GM-Wuling - 35,082
GAC - 30,186
Volkswagen - 28,073
BMW - 27,035
Mercedes-Benz - 21,854
Volvo - 20,502
Geely - 18,013
Li Auto - 17,138

After the first two months, BYD already is above 328,000 (23 percent share), while Tesla is above 221,000 (15 percent share), compared to over 55,000 BMWs, over 52,000 SAIC-GM-Wulings, and over 50,000 Volkswagens.

What do you think?

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Comments

The differences are slightly less extreme when we compare automotive groups because the third Volkswagen Group is at 106,373, Geely-Volvo at 90,924, and SAIC Group at 84,289.

Here is an interesting comparison of BEV sales in January-February:

Tesla: 221,882
BYD Group: 161,635
SAIC Group: 78,916
Volkswagen Group: 73,719
Geely-Volvo: 56,937