Facts About Electric Cars - As of December 2012, Japan and the United States are the largest highway-capable electric car country markets in the world, followed by several Western European countries and China. Pure electric car sales in 2012 were led by Japan with a 28% market share of global sales, followed by the United States with a 26% share, China with 16%, France with 11%, and Norway with 7%. In Japan, more than 28,000 all-electric cars electric cars have been sold through December 2012, with sales led by the Nissan Leaf with about 21,000 units sold since 2010. Around 27,000 all-electric cars have been sold in the U.S. since 2008, and sales are led by the Nissan Leaf, with 19,512 units sold through December 2012.
Since 2010, a total of 37,380 electric-drive passenger cars have been sold in Western European countries through December 2012, with yearly sales climbing from 1,614 all-electric cars in 2010 to 11,563 electric cars during 2011, to reach 24,203 plug-in electric cars in 2012. The market share of plug-in electric cars rose from 0.09% of all new car sales in the region in 2011 to 0.2% in 2012.
Sales during these two years were led by the Nissan Leaf with 6,938 units, followed by the Peugeot iOn with 5,017 units, and the Citroën C-Zero with 4,977 cars sold. When electric vehicles with range extender plug-in hybrids are considered, the Opel/Vauxhall Ampera ranks second after the Leaf with 5,572 units delivered in Europe since late 2011 through December 2012. The top selling models in the region in 2011 were the Mitsubishi i-MiEV (2,608) followed by its rebadged versions the Peugeot iOn (1,926) and the Citroën C-Zero (1,830). The Opel/Vauxhall Ampera was Europe’s top selling electric-drive car in 2012 with 5,210 units representing a market share of 21.5% of the region’s electric passenger car segment. The Nissan Leaf ranked second with 5,029 electric cars sold for a market share of 20.8%. The top selling country markets in 2011 were France (2,630), Norway (2,240), Germany (2,154), and the United Kingdom (1,082). In 2012, the leading countries were France (5,663), the Netherlands (5,093), Norway (4,679), and Germany (2,956). Sales in Germany, the Netherlands and Norway include plug-in hybrids. As of December 2012, the leading countries in terms of EV penetration of the total auto fleet are Norway with 4 electric car per 1,000 automobiles registered in the country, Estonia with 1 electric car for every 1,000 cars, and the Netherlands with a penetration of 0.6 electric cars per 1,000 registered cars.