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About 756,000 plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) were sold in the world in 2016, with 95% of those sales in China, Europe, the United States, Japan, and Canada. China's PEV sales grew by 53% from 2015 to 2016, to a high of nearly 317,000 vehicles, most of which were all-electric vehicles (EV) (77%). All of the European countries combined had 11% PEV sales growth from 2015 to 2016, with an EV share of 44%. The United States PEV market grew by 40% during the same time frame, with over half (54%) of sales being EV in 2016. Japan’s PEV market grew by 7%, with a 63% share of EV in 2016.

Plug-in Vehicle Sales by Vehicle Type, 2015 and 2016
Graph showing plug-in vehicle sales by vehicle type (EV, PHEV, total PEV) for 2015 and 2016 in various countries.

Note: PHEV = plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. EV = all-electric vehicle.

Fact #976 Dataset

Supporting Information

Plug-in Vehicle Sales by Vehicle Type, Calendar Years 2015 and 2016 (Thousands)

Vehicle
Type		 China Europe United States Japan Canada World
2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016 2015 2016
EV 143.3 244.4 87.8 91.3 71.1 86.7 10.4 15.2 4.7 4.9 333.0 464.6
PHEV 63.8 72.4 100.6 118.0 43.0 72.9 12.4 9.1 2.2 5.4 233.0 291.7
Total PEV 207.0 316.8 188.3 209.3 114.0 159.6 22.8 24.3 6.9 10.3 566.0 756.3

Sources:
Data compiled and estimated from various sources by Argonne National Laboratory, March 2016.
Global Sales References:

  1. All China PEV sales and some of Japan PEV sales are provided by Prof. Wang Hewu of Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
  2. Europe PEV sales are from European Alternative Observatory.
  3. Other Japan PEV sales are from the following websites:
  4. International Energy Agency, Global EV Outlook 2016

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