Half Of All Cars Sold In China Are Plug-Ins

Plug-in cars—both EVs and PHEVs—will soon make up the majority of Chinese car sales.

BYD Song PHEV

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Jul 31, 2024 at 5:53pm ET

Add InsideEVs as a preferred source in Google

Comment

Plug-in electric car sales in China continued to climb in June, reaching the second-highest monthly volume ever and a new record market share of 49.9%. It means that half of new passenger cars are rechargeable. Europe and the U.S. are not even close to such a level.

According to EV Volumes' data, shared by researcher Jose Pontes, 875,904 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in China in June. That's about 23% more than a year ago.

Get Fully Charged

Twilight of ICE

In June, 49.9% of new car registrations were all-electric or plug-in hybrid. As early as July, we might see plug-in cars in the majority.

The growth comes mostly from plug-in hybrids. All-electric car registrations increased in June by only 1% year-over-year to roughly 482,500 units (about 55% of the total plug-in volume).

At the same time, PHEVs were up by a massive 70% year-over-year to about 393,000 (45% of plug-ins). If these trends continue, PHEVs will beat plug-ins in the second half of the year, indicating that full electrification must wait.

Plug-in car registrations for the month (YOY change):

BEVs: about about 482,500 (up 1%) and 28% market share
PHEVs: about about 393,000 (up 70%) and 22% market share
Total: 875,904 (up 23%) and 49.9% market share

Plug-in electric car sales in China – June 2024

During the first six months of the year, more than 4.26 million new plug-in electric cars were registered in China (up 31% year-over-year). That's about 43% of the total car market.

Plug-in car registrations in January-June (YOY change):

BEVs: about *2.55 million and 25% market share
PHEVs: about *1.69 million and 18% market share
Total: 4,269,398 (up 31%) and 43% market share

** estimated from the market share*

For reference, in 2023, more than 8 million new plug-in electric cars were registered in China (46% more than in 2022), which was about 37% of the total volume. Plug-in cars represented 30% of sales in 2022, 15% in 2022 and 6.3% in 2020. Considering the year's strong start, 2024 should be even better than 2023. I expect total annual plug-in sales for 2024 to reach 10 million units (most of the sales happen in the second half of the year).

Model rank

In June, the four top plug-in car nameplates—the BYD Song, Tesla Model Y, BYD Qin Plus and BYD Seagu;l—were also the best-selling cars overall. The first non-rechargeable nameplate is the Nissan Sylphy (5th).

The Tesla Model 3 returned to the top ten plug-ins at 9th, but the list remains highly dominated by Chinese models. The Tesla Model Y continues to be the number one all-electric model, although it was down 14% year-over-year.

Top 10 plug-ins in June:

BYD Song: 52,227 (2,794 BEVs + 49,433 PHEVs)
Tesla Model Y: 44,110
BYD Qin Plus: 38,901 (8,323 BEVs + 30,578 PHEVs)
BYD Seagull: 35,201
BYD Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3): 23,918
Li Xiang L6: 23,864
BYD Destroyer 05 (PHEV): 19,441
BYD Han: 18,698 (5,957 BEVs + 12,741 PHEVs)
Tesla Model 3: 18,151
BYD Qin L PHEV: 18,021

The BYD Song has had an incredible first six months of 2024. It's been the dominant nameplate in the country so far this year.

Top 10 plug-ins in January-June:

BYD Song: 292,138 (42,422 BEVs + 249,716 PHEVs)
BYD Qin Plus: 220,008 (65,945 BEVs + 154,063 PHEVs)
Tesla Model Y: 210,817
BYD Seagull: 172,017
BYD Yuan Plus (aka Atto 3): 118,303
Aito M7 (EREV): 106,540
BYD Destroyer 05 (PHEV): 106,137
BYD Han: 90,520 (35,093 BEVs + 55,427 PHEVs)
Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV: 83,288
Aion Y: 74,241

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

Brands

BYD continues to dominate the Chinese plug-in market, with a 30.8% share of the plug-in car segment (32.9% when including its satellite brands).

What do you think?

View

Comments

Top brands by share in the plug-in segment in January-June:

BYD: 30.8%
Tesla: 6.8%
Li Auto: 4.6%
SAIC-GM-Wuling: 4.6%
Aito: 4.4%

Top automotive groups by share in the plug-in segment in January-June:

BYD: 32.9%
Geely-Volvo: 7.9%
Tesla: 6.8%
SAIC: 6.7%
Changan: 6.5%

Get the best news, reviews, columns, and more delivered straight to your inbox.

back

Subscribe For more info, read our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use.