China continues to be by far the world’s largest market for plug-in vehicles, or new energy vehicles (NEVs) as they are called there. In the first half of 2017, 181,200 plug-in passenger cars were delivered, almost exactly double the number sold in the US in the same period (89,256, according to InsideEVs).

Reductions in central and local government subsidies led to a decrease in sales in January, but sales for the first half still grew by 42% compared to the same period in 2016.

NEVs’ share of total passenger car sales reached a new high in June, at 2.5% of the market.

Pure EVs accounted for 82% of all NEV sales. PHEVs’ market share has steadily declined since 2015, a trend that EV-volumes.com attributes to more stringent requirements to qualify for subsidies, tougher municipal mandates for pure EVs, and a better selection of EV models.

Most of China’s NEVs are home-grown: non-Chinese brands accounted for only 6% of plug-in sales, the lion’s share of that from Tesla.

Meanwhile, commercial vehicles are also rapidly electrifying: over 190,000 plug-in commercial vehicles were sold in 2016. EV-volumes.com expects sales to reach 270,000 units in 2017, mostly electric buses.

Source: EV-volumes.com
Image: Nicolas Raymond