All-Time-High EV Sales in China Defy Slowdown Worry

Sales of electric vehicles hit a new record in China last month, rising 47.9% year-on-year to cross the 1 million-mark for a second consecutive month.

Chinese carmakers sold 1.12 million fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in September, up by 90,000 vehicles from last month, market research firm Rho Motion said on Tuesday.

China’s record numbers helped fuel EV global sales to a record-breaking 1.7 million units in September, past the high from December 2023.

Also on AF: Tariffs on Chinese EVs Will Speed up EU Plant Closures – Tavares

The bumper sales figures come as a breather for global EV-sellers amid concerns of a demand slowdown brought on by high interest rates, policy uncertainty and structural issues like a lack of rapid charging stations.

“This record-breaking month of EV sales brings new hope to the industry… the recent slowdown of sales in many parts of the world has sewn seeds of doubt which can now start to be swept aside,” Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester said in a media release.

In the Chinese market, the penetration rate of BEV and PHEV is growing faster than some expected and sales “could be a record every month until the end of the year”, Lester told Reuters.

Meanwhile, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), EV sales in the country surpassed sales of fossil-fuel powered cars for a second consecutive month in September.

New energy vehicles (NEVs) now account for 45.8% of China’s total vehicle sales, according to S&P Global.

US sales slow, EU sales seen rising

Meanwhile in the US market, gains in EV sales remained slow and steady ahead of the upcoming presidential election, which makes it difficult to predict future trends in the country, Rho Motion’s Lester said. Year-on-year EV sales in US and Canada were up by only 4.3% last month.

In Europe, meanwhile, sales resumed growth after dwindling in August. EV sales in the region rose 4.2% last month to 0.3 million units, thanks to a 24% jump in the United Kingdom and gains in Italy, Germany and Denmark.

Rho Motion expects EV sales in Europe to reach 3.78 million vehicles in 2025 and 9.78 million in 2030, respectively 24% and 19% lower than in previous estimates.

Meanwhile, in China, it expects this year’s sales to rise by one third from last year to 10.5 million vehicles.

“The regional disparities are astonishing, with China alone accounting for well over half the global total, meanwhile Europe’s numbers are shrinking and the US and Canada are steadily growing,” Lester said.

The stacked column chart — Graph: Reuters

Reuters, with additional inputs from Vishakha Saxena

Vishakha Saxena

Vishakha Saxena is the Multimedia and Social Media Editor at Asia Financial. She has worked as a digital journalist since 2013, and is an experienced writer and multimedia producer. As a trader and investor, she is keenly interested in new economy, emerging markets and the intersections of finance and society. You can write to her at [email protected]