was the first mass-produced and purpose-designed
all-electric car of the modern era from a major automaker. During the 1990s several highway-capable plug-in electric cars were produced in limited quantities, all were
battery electric vehicles.
PSA Peugeot Citroën launched several electric "Électrique" versions of its models starting in 1991. Other models were available through leasing mainly in
California. Popular models included the
General Motors EV1 and the
Toyota RAV4 EV. Some of the latter were sold to the public and were still in use by the early 2010s. In the late 2000s began a new wave of
mass production plug-in electric cars, motorcycles and light trucks. However, , most
electric vehicles in the world roads were low-speed, low-range
neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) or electric
quadricycles. Sales of low-speed electric vehicles experienced considerable growth in China between 2012 and 2016, with an estimated NEV stock between 3 million to 4 million units, with most powered by
lead-acid batteries. There are also available several commercial models of electric light commercial vehicles, plug-in motorcycles, all-electric buses, and plug-in heavy-duty trucks. The
Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance is the world's leading light-duty electric vehicle manufacturer. Since 2010, the Alliance's global all-electric vehicle sales totaled almost 725,000 units, including those manufactured by
Mitsubishi Motors through December 2018, now part of the Alliance. Its best selling all-electric
Nissan Leaf was the world's top selling plug-in electric car in 2013 and 2014. Its
Model S was the world's top selling plug-in car in 2015 and 2016, and its
Model 3 was the world's best selling plug-in electric car in 2018. Its
Qin plug-in hybrid is the company's top selling model with almost 137,000 units sold in China through December 2018. BYD Auto ended 2015 as the world's best selling manufacturer of highway legal light-duty plug-in electric vehicles, with 61,722 units sold, followed by Tesla, with 50,580 units. BYD was again the world's top selling plug-in car manufacturer in 2016, with 101,183 units delivered, one more time followed again by Tesla with 76,243 units. In 2017 BYD ranked for the third consecutive year as the global top plug-in car manufacturer with 113,669 units delivered.
BAIC ranked second with 104,520 units. The
BAIC EC-Series all-electric
city car ranked as the world's top selling plug-in car in 2017 with 78,079 units sold in China. BYD Auto ranked second with 227,152 plug-in passenger cars sold worldwide, representing a market share of 11%. In 2025, BYD Auto surpassed Tesla with 2.26 million units sold that year while Tesla reported 1.63 million sold, representing a 9% decrease from 2024. Tesla faces additional competition from Chinese technology firm
Xiaomi Corp, which aims to take Tesla on in the luxury electric vehicle market. In January 2026, the Xiaomi YU7 SUV outsold the Tesla Model Y with 37,869 units sold against Tesla's 16,845 Model Y vehicles.
Sales and main markets car charging in 1919. During the
Golden Age of the electric car at the beginning of the 20th century, the EV stock peaked at about 30,000 vehicles. By comparison, during the
Golden Age of the electric car at the beginning of the 20th century, the EV stock peaked at approximately 30,000 vehicles. After the introduction of the first mass-production plug-in cars by major carmakers in late 2010, plug-in car global sales went from about 50,000 units in 2011, to 125,000 in 2012, almost 213,000 in 2013, and over 315,000 units in 2014. almost twice as fast as
hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Light-duty plug-in electric vehicle sales in 2015 increased to more than 565,000 units in 2015, about 80% from 2014, driven mainly by China and Europe. About 775,000 plug-in cars and vans were sold in 2016, and cumulative global sales passed the 2 million milestone by the end of 2016. The global market share of the light-duty plug-in vehicle segment achieved a record 0.86% of total new car sales in 2016, up from 0.62% in 2015 and 0.38% in 2014. Cumulative global light-duty plug-in vehicle sales passed the 3 million milestone in November 2017. About 1.2 million plug-ins cars and vans were sold worldwide in 2017, with China accounting for about half of global sales. The plug-in car segment achieved a 1.3% market share. Plug-in passenger car sales totaled just over 2 million in 2018, with a market share of 2.1%. rose to 1 out of every 200
motor vehicles (0.48%) in 2019, and by the end of 2020, the stock share of plug-in cars on the world's roads was 1%. All-electric cars have outsold plug-in hybrids for several years, and by the end of 2019, the shift towards
battery electric cars continued. The global ratio between all-electrics (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) went from 56:44 in 2012, to 60:40 in 2015, increased to 66:34 in 2017, and rose to 69:31 in 2018, and reached 74:26 in 2019. Out of the 7.2 million plug-in passenger cars in use at the end of 2019, two thirds were all-electric cars (4.8 million). The fleet of Chinese plug-in passenger cars represented 46.7% of the global stock of plug-in cars at the end of 2019. Europe listed next with 24.8%, followed by the U.S. with 20.2% of the global stock in use.
China in China between 2011 and 2021 , China had the world's largest stock of highway legal plug-in cars with 7.84 million units, corresponding to about 46% of the global plug-in car fleet in use. Of these, all-electric cars accounted for 81.6% of the all new energy passenger cars in circulation. Plug-in passenger cars represent 2.6% of all cars on Chinese roads at the end of 2021. Another particular feature of the Chinese passenger plug-in market is the dominance of small entry level vehicles. China also dominates the plug-in
light commercial vehicle and
electric bus deployment, with its stock reaching over 500,000 buses in 2019, 98% of the global stock, and 247,500 electric light commercial vehicles, 65% of the global fleet. In addition, the country also leads sales of medium- and heavy duty electric trucks, with over 12,000 trucks sold, and nearly all battery electric. The
BAIC EC-Series all-electric
city car was China's the top selling plug-in car in 2017 and 2018, and also the world's top selling plug-in car in 2017.
BYD Auto was the world's top selling car manufacturer in 2016 and 2017. In 2020, the
Tesla Model 3 listed as the best-selling plug-in car with 137,459 units.
Europe Europe had about 5.67 million plug-in electric passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in circulation at the end of 2021, consisting of 2.9 million fully electric passenger cars, 2.5 million plug-in hybrid cars, and about 220,000 light commercial all-electric vehicles. The European stock of plug-in passenger is the world's second largest market after China, accounting for 30% of the global car stock in 2020. The plug-in car segment had a market share of 1.3% of new car registrations in 2016, rose to 3.6% in 2019, and achieved 11.4% in 2020. The largest country markets in the European region in terms of EV stock and annual sales are Germany, Norway, France, the UK, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
Germany The stock of plug-in electric cars in Germany is the largest in Europe, there were 1,184,416 plug-in cars in circulation on January 1, 2022, representing 2.5% of all passenger cars on German roads, up from 1.2% the previous year. , cumulative sales totaled 1.38 million plug-in passenger cars since 2010. Germany had a stock of 21,890 light-duty electric commercial vehicles in 2019, the second largest in Europe after France. Despite the global decline in car sales brought by the
COVID-19 pandemic, the segment market share achieved a record 13.6% in 2020. with a record volume of 394,632 plug-in passenger cars registered in 2020, up 263% from 2019, allowing Germany to be listed for a second year running as the best selling European plug-in market. Despite to the continued global decline in car sales brought by the
shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and
computer chips in particular, a record 681,410 plug-in electric passenger cars were registered in Germany in 2021, consisting of 325,449 plug-in hybrids and 355,961 all-electric cars, allowing the segment's market share to surge to 26.0%. , a total of 786,274 light-duty plug-in electric vehicles have been registered in France since 2010, consisting of 512,178 all-electric passenger cars and commercial vans, and 274,096 plug-in hybrids. Of these, over 60,000 were all-electric light commercial vehicles. The market share of all-electric passenger cars increased from 0.30% of new car registered in 2012, to 0.59% in 2014. After the introduction of the super-bonus for the scrappage of old diesel-power cars in 2015, sales of both pure electric cars and plug-in hybrids surged, rising the market share to 1.17% in 2015, The combined light-duty plug-in vehicle segment (cars and utility vans) achieved a market share of 15.1% in 2021.
United Kingdom About 745,000 light-duty plug-in electric vehicles had been registered in the UK up until December 2021, consisting of 395,000 all-electric vehicles and 350,000 plug-in hybrids. A surge of plug-in car sales took place in Britain beginning in 2014. Total registrations went from 3,586 in 2013, to 37,092 in 2016, and rose to 59,911 in 2018. The market share of the plug-in segment went from 0.16% in 2013 to 0.59% in 2014, and achieved 2.6% in 2018. The segment market share was 3.1% in 2019, rose to 10.7% in 2020, and achieved a record 18.6% in 2021.
Norway , the stock of light-duty plug-in electric vehicles in Norway totaled 647,000 units in use, consisting of 470,309
all-electric passenger cars and vans (including used imports), and 176,691
plug-in hybrids. Norway was the top selling plug-in country market in Europe for three consecutive years, from 2016 to 2018. Until 2019, Norway listed as the European country with the largest stock of plug-in cars and vans, and the third largest in the world. 49.1% in 2018, rose to 55.9% in 2019, and reached 74.7% in 2020, meaning that three out of every four new passenger car sold in Norway in 2020 was a plug-in electric. In September 2021, the combined market share of the plug-in car segment achieved a new record of 91.5% of new passenger car registrations, 77.5% for all-electric cars and 13.9% for plug-in hybrids, becoming the world's highest-ever monthly plug-in car market share attained by any country. The plug-in segment market share rose to 86.2% in 2021. In October 2018, Norway became the first country where 1 in every 10 passenger cars in use was a plug-in electric vehicle. and by the end of 2021, plug-in electric cars were 22.1% of all passenger cars on Norwegian roads. The country's fleet of plug-in electric cars is one of the cleanest in the world because
98% of the electricity generated in the country comes from
hydropower. Norway is the country with the largest EV ownership per capita in the world.
Netherlands was the best selling plug-in car in the Netherlands in 2020. , there were 390,454 highway-legal light-duty plug-in electric vehicles in use in the Netherlands, consisting of 137,663 fully electric cars, 243,664 plug-in hybrid cars and 9,127 light duty plug-in commercial vehicles. Plug-in passenger cars represented 4.33% of all cars on Dutch roads at the end of 2021. Plug-in sales fell sharply in 2016 due to changes in tax rules, and as a result of the change in government's incentives, the plug-in market share declined from 9.9% in 2015, to 6.7% in 2016, and fell to 2.6% in 2017. The intake rate rose to 6.5% in 2018 in anticipation of another change in tax rules that went into effect in January 2019, and increased to 14.9% in 2019, and rose 24.6% in 2020, and achieved a record 29.8% in 2021. The U.S. has the world's third largest stock of plug-in passenger cars, after having been overtaken by Europe in 2015 and China during 2016. The
Tesla Model 3 electric car has been the best selling plug-in car in the U.S. for two consecutive years, 2018 and 2019. Cumulative sales of the Model 3 surpassed in 2019 the discontinued
Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid to become the all-time best selling plug-in car in the country, with an estimated 300,471 units delivered since inception, followed by the
Tesla Model S all-electric car with about 157,992, and the Chevrolet Volt with 157,054.
Japan was listed as the all-time top selling plug-in car in Japan, with 100,000 units delivered. , Japan had a stock of plug-in passenger cars of 293,081 units on the road, consisting of 156,381 all-electric cars and 136,700 plug-in hybrids. Plug-in sales totaled 24,660 units in 2015 and 24,851 units in 2016. The segment market share fell from 0.68% in 2014 to 0.59% in 2016. Sales recovered in 2017, with almost 56,000 plug-in cars sold, and the segment's market share reached 1.1%. Sales fell slightly in 2018 to 52,000 units with a market share of 1.0%. The market share continued declining to 0.7% in 2019 and 0.6% in 2020. ==See also==