As of early 2019 there are now 5.6 million electric vehicles on the road worldwide, a 64 per cent increase from the same time in 2018, and the second year in a row to see unprecedented growth in the burgeoning zero emissions transport market.

2018’s record-setting numbers of EV registrations saw 2.2 million EVs registered worldwide, adding to the previous total of 3.4 million EVs.

The Tesla Model 3 which has been available since the end of 2017, was the by far the best seller for the period from early 2018 – early 2019, with 146,310 new registrations worldwide.

This is followed by the BAIC EC-Series with 90,640 and the Nissan Leaf with 81,140. The best German model was the BMW 5 Series, with 22,040 plug-in hybrids in 22nd place.

The most successful model to date (aggregated over the years) is still the Nissan Leaf with 363,940 registrations, followed by the Tesla Model S with 243,200. The best German model here is the BMW i3 in 10th place with 108,560 registrations.

The data comes from figures shared by the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) this week and is based on data from local and international motor vehicle authorities and associations, and includes both battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

China and the USA are leading the charge, so to speak, with China undisputedly at number one with 2.6 million EVs, having practically doubled its EV fleet from 1,354,000 EVs on the road a year ago.

The trend was similar in the USA which with 361,310 new EV registrations added a third to its fleet bringing the total to just over 1.1 million EVs – about half of that total, over 500,000 EVs, is in California.

In Germany, 67,504 newly registered electric vehicles increased the country’s total to 141,690, bringing it to rank 8th in terms of total inventory and rank 4th for new registrations.

While the USA and China lead the way in volume, Norway maintains its unrivalled lead in terms of market share with 86,340 electric cars newly registered last year, increasing total EV stock to 298,210 and every second car now bought in the Scandinavian country powered by electricity.

Californian automaker Tesla outranked all other electric carmakers, with 234,000 registered vehicles worldwide followed by Chinese automakers BYD and BAIC.

This is significant since both BYD and BAIC are mainly active in their home market, while Tesla is represented worldwide, and on the cusp of pushing further into the lucrative Chinese market with the opening of its Shanghai Gigafactory and introduction of the best-selling Model 3.

BMW leads the way for European automakers, having sold 87,000 EVs and ranked 6th worldwide, followed by VW which is ranked 9th worldwide.