Global EV sales soared by 30% in Q1

Global markets sold 2.72 million electric vehicles (EV) in the first quarter of the year, marking a 30.2 percent increase year-on-year. Although the top 10 global automakers all posted double-digit growth, Hyundai Motor Group from South Korea was the only company to see a decline in sales.

According to SNE Research, an energy market research firm on Thursday, China’s BYD showed the sharpest growth in the first quarter by selling 566,000 units. In second place was the U.S. carmaker Tesla, which increased sales by 36.4 percent, or 423,000 units, year-on-year. China’s SAIC Motor and Geely Auto, ranked third and fifth, respectively, with growth rates of 13.1 percent and 40.6 percent. The German-engineered Volkswagen Group came fourth, up 17.4 percent to 178,000 units. The U.S.-based multinational Stellantis was sixth, with an increase of 16.6 percent to 122,000 units.

Hyundai Motor Group ranked seventh, selling 119,000 units in the first quarter due to changes in the U.S. electric vehicle policy under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Sales were down 2.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, which was 122,000 units. The automotive group, second only to Tesla in the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) market, was hit by the loss of subsidies under the IRA, which was implemented last August.

South Korea is also falling behind its competitors in EV charging technology. According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the Japanese patent analysis firm Patent Result compiled the number of patent applications in the sector from 2010 to 2022, where South Korea ranked fifth, behind China, Japan, Germany, and the U.S.


bjk@donga.com