Electric car use by country

Electric car use by country varies worldwide, as the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles is affected by consumer demand, market prices, availability of charging infrastructure, and government policies, such as purchase incentives and long term regulatory signals (ZEV mandates, CO₂ emissions regulations, fuel economy standards, and phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles).

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are generally divided into all-electric or battery electric vehicles (BEVs), that run only on batteries, and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), that combine battery power with internal combustion engines. The popularity of electric vehicles has been expanding rapidly due to government subsidies, improving charging infrastructure, their increasing range and lower battery costs, and environmental sensitivity. However, the stock of plug-in electric cars represented just 1% of all passengers vehicles on the world's roads by the end of 2020, of which pure electrics constituted two-thirds.

Global cumulative sales of highway-legal light-duty plug-in electric vehicles reached 1 million units in September 2015, 5 million in December 2018, and passed the 10 million milestone in 2020. By mid-2022, there were over 20 million light-duty plug-in vehicles on the world's roads. Sales of plug-in passenger cars achieved a 9% global market share of new car sales in 2021, up from 4.6% in 2020, and 2.5% in 2019. The PEV market has been shifting towards fully electric battery vehicles. The global ratio between BEVs and PHEVs went from 56:44 in 2012, to 60:40 in 2015, and rose to 74:26 in 2019. The ratio was to 71:29 in 2021.

As of December 2023, China had the largest stock of highway legal plug-in passenger cars with 20.4 million units, almost half of the global fleet in use. China also dominates the plug-in light commercial vehicle and electric bus deployment, with its stock reaching over 500,000 buses in 2019, 98% of the global stock, and 247,500 electric light commercial vehicles, 65% of the global fleet.

Europe had about 11.8 million plug-in passenger cars at the end of 2023, accounting for around 30% of the global stock. Europe also has the world's second largest electric light commercial vehicle stock, with about 290,000 vans. As of December 2023, cumulative sales in the United States totaled 4.74 million plug-in cars since 2010, with California listed as the largest U.S. plug-in regional market with 1.77 million plug-in cars sold by 2023.

As of December 2021, Germany is the leading European country with 1.38 million plug-in cars registered since 2010. Norway has the highest market penetration per capita in the world, and also has the world's largest plug-in segment market share of new car sales, 86.2% in 2021. Over 10% of all passenger cars on Norwegian roads were plug-ins in October 2018, and rose to 22% in 2021. The Netherlands has the highest density of EV charging stations in the world by 2019.