Electric vehicle sales in China will triple to 3.3 million by 2021. This is half of the world’s total electric vehicle population.
One reason for this is that the average price of electric vehicles is only 10% more than conventional offerings, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). This is in contrast to the price of electric vehicles in the main market which are 45% to 50% more expensive than conventional offerings.
The IEA in its annual Global Electric Vehicle Outlook released Monday said electric vehicles sold in China were smaller than in other markets. This reduces the price gap with conventional vehicles while reducing production costs.
Vehicle sales in Europe increased 65 percent to 2.3 million in 2021. Meanwhile for the US market, the increase doubled to 630,000 in 2021, the report said.
For developing countries, sales of electric vehicles are lagging behind because of the small number of models on offer and exorbitant prices.
The IEA noted that subsidies and incentives for electric vehicles reached nearly $30 billion by 2021, making sales rise significantly in some countries.
China produces three-quarters of all lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. In addition, China has 70 percent of the cathode production capacity and 85 percent of the anode production capacity, which are important components of electric vehicle batteries.
By 2021, more than half of all electric vehicles worldwide will be assembled in China, the report said.
