Report Summary

The global electric vehicles (EV) market was estimated to be valued at USD 49 billion in 2017 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 38.4% from 2018 to 2026. Electric vehicles unlike combustion-based vehicles make use traction motors or electric motors for propulsion. These vehicles are powered via off-vehicle sources or may have self-contained batteries, panels, or electric generators.

The global electric vehicles market is driven by a combination of political, economic, and technological factors in tandem with the influence of more planned mass-market electric vehicle introductions. The presence of non-monetary and monetary government subsidies has been one of the strongest and biggest factors for the electric vehicle market attractiveness. Many political factors have positively influenced the sales of EV in different parts of the world. Some of the major factors include one-time government monetary subsides at purchase, post-purchase monetary government subsidies, non-monetary government regulations, and charging infrastructures. Many tax credits concerning the purchase of EV have been initiated and implemented by different country-level governments.

The economic factors such as purchasing price, number of potential buyer, and fuel price are also some of the crucial factors affecting the sales of electric vehicles. As the electric vehicles are environmentally-safe alternatives to the fuel-based vehicles, it is becoming a preferable option by many consumers. However, consumers in certain developing countries have also limited its use on account of high maintenance cost. Technological advancement in the field is another crucial factor for the growth of this industry. The charging time and range are important technological factors that have been continuously worked upon by the manufacturers. Protective nano battery layers, high recharge capacities of lithium-ion batteries, and decline in electric vehicles battery costs are some of the latest technological outputs.

The United States, China, South Korea, Japan, and Europe majorly account for the global electric vehicle production. Among these, Japan is one of the largest producers of battery packs for the electrical vehicles. These countries constitute of numerous manufacturers, who have made or promised multi-billion dollars investment to develop an array of new electric models.

Segment Analysis

The global electric vehicle market is segmented on the basis of product, vehicle type, power source and regional markets. Among various product types, battery electric vehicles (BEV) are the largest segment for the electric vehicle market. This is on account of decline in the battery prices and low or zero harmful emissions in the environment. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle is also one of the fastest growing product types. On the basis of vehicle type, the market has been segmented as two-wheelers which primarily constitutes of electric bikes. Other vehicle types include electric cars, and the commercial vehicles.

Regional Analysis

Asia Pacific is the most significant regional market for the EV. China is the major Asian contributing nation to the worldwide sales of EV and accounted for more than half of the global sales in 2017, when the sales of new electric cars surpassed 1 million units globally. Also, its battery cell production for the electric vehicles overtook Japan and South Korea in 2016. North America and Europe are also the significant regional markets for the electric vehicles. However, the policies in these regions to proliferate the EV growth and battery investments have been limited relative to China. As China has comprehensively promoted foreign and domestic investments in vehicles and batteries coupled with the central planning and reinforcement of the local policies.

Competitive Analysis

The global electric vehicle market is moderately competitive and consolidated on account of presence of some large-scale market players. The key players have announced different monetary investments such as Volkswagen group committed to 34 billion Euros for the launch of 80 electric vehicle models by 2025.

Some of the major electric vehicle market players include Mercedes, BMW, Tesla, Volkswagen Group, Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi, Jaguar, and BAIC Group.Few of these players have announced the strategic plans, through which it has been anticipated that the actual investments are likely to be greater for the growth of electric vehicles globally.