At the time that World EV Day was first launched and observed, the world was in the midst of a global pandemic – one that had a significant impact on the sales of electric cars. Since then, major markets have emerged as dominant in electric vehicles (EVs) – with China, the US, and Europe leading the way.
Although end users have cited their concerns around public charging infrastructure, cost, and charge anxiety as key reasons behind a reluctance to buy electric cars, the market has continued to grow. By 2021, electric car sales had doubled compared with 2020, to 6.75 million; and 2022 broke records as car sales globally exceeded 10 million.Examining these statistics further shows that China’s dominance can be attributed to its pro-business policies, electric car incentives, and control over the raw materials supply chain. From between January to March 2025, China averaged monthly sales of 875,000 electric cars, with sales totalling more than 2.7 million.
While many car manufacturers scaled back electrification targets due to an uncertain policy landscape – perhaps best exemplified by the announcement of the US tariffs in April of this year – electric car sales hit 17 million in 2024, representing a 25% rise. This was according to the IEA’s Global EV Outlook 2025.
The same report showed that sales of electric cars in China exceeded 11 million, more than were sold globally two years earlier. Its analysis showed that the spread of electric cars worldwide is not even: in China, one in 10 cars on the roads are electric, but in Europe this ratio widens to 1 in 20.
A reduction or scaling back of electric car subsidies, particularly in France and Germany, have potentially held back growth in Europe; the IEA reported that Europe’s market share remained stagnant at 20% in 2024. At the beginning of 2024, France limited the amount of environmental bonuses available to higher income car buyers and cut back the number of eligible vehicles. Furthermore, the UK stopped subsidising the sales of EVs in 2022 and introduced road tax for electric cars from April 2025 onwards. This is in spite the government dedicating £1.6 billion to grow public charging infrastructure.
By way of contrast, in 2024 China introduced a trade-in subsidy that brought in a higher premium for purchasing EVs. It offers CNY 20,000 for consumers that replace an older vehicle with a new electric car. The IEA estimated that China’s expenditure to support electric car purchases was valued at $2.7 billion in 2024.
Having emerged as a leader in electric car production, China’s role as a major supplier of half of the volume for three materials used in Li-ion batteries – cobalt, nickel, and natural graphite – has played an important part. Nickel, lithium, and cobalt are all essential for electric vehicle production.
Cognisant of vulnerability of the raw materials supply chain to disruption, the European Union entered into law the EU Critical Raw Materials Act; regulation that set out the EU’s desire to reduce dependencies on imports of critical raw materials, increase its capacitor to monitor disruption risks, and strengthen all stages of the value chain.
The Act set out benchmarks to diversify EU supplies, including setting a target of 10% of the EU’s annual consumption for extraction and 40% annual consumption for processing.
The IEA’s reporting on growth in emerging markets like Asian, Latin America, and Africa, where sales increased 60% year-on-year in 2024 is promising for the global market.
In order for countries like the UK to encourage the growth of electric cars – besides bringing in subsidies and financial incentives – is to ensure that consumers view electric cars as a viable alternative to conventional cars. A research poll conducted by ZapMap at the end of 2024 showed that 61% of respondents (2,000 were surveyed) would consider an electric car if the government implemented incentives such as making public charging cheaper by reducing VAT from 20% to 5%; reintroducing the government grant; and making electric cars exempt from road tax.
