Mobility: Almost 56 million cars with electric drive worldwide

The global number of electric drive cars rose by around a third last year. At the turn of the year, it was 55.8 million pure Stromer, plug-in hybrids or electric cars with range extenders, as the Center for solar energy and hydrogen research in Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) calculated. The experts locate more than half of them – 31.4 million vehicles.

The United States follows a large distance behind with 6.4 million and Germany with 2.6 million vehicles in the existence. Also Great Britain and France, each with around 2.1 million, as well as Norway with a good 1 million wise seven -digit stocks.

Interesting, albeit difficult, a look at inventory growth in which the shrinkage of vehicles is included. Because after years of severe climbs there is a decline: in 2024 the inventory grew by 13.8 million, in 2023 there were still 14.2 million.

This is surprising, because the new registrations continued to increase significantly. Between them and the growth of the inventory figures, a gap of 3.7 million vehicles is now gaping, which is mainly due to China, while in previous years it was only a few hundred thousand vehicles.

It was initially surprised by the numbers from China, says Andreas Püttner from the ZSW. He suspects that a mixture of several factors explains the very big difference between new registrations and inventory growth.

In the meantime there is an ever greater stock of older vehicles – especially in China – so that more vehicles would also break or have been scrapped there. This is also driven by the fact that there is a rapidly growing variety of model with ever better digital technology and range and a great customer request for the latest models.

In addition, there are certain uncertainties, especially in the comparative figures of previous years from China, says Püttner. Of course, this would also affect the calculated inventory growth.

Three German manufacturers in the top 10

When looking at the car manufacturers, BYD has expanded its lead. The Chinese brand now has over the years that has been added to 10.6 million cars over the years and is therefore well ahead of the next Tesla with 7.3 and VW with 4.3 million vehicles.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz also make it into the top 10: the Munich-based company with almost 2.5 million in 6th place, the Stuttgart team with 1.6 million to the 8th place. There are no inventory figures here. In any case, they are likely to be a good bit lower.

However, one should not be fooled by the good position of the German manufacturers among the cumulative registration numbers, the ZSW warns. “Due to the size of the Chinese market and the dominance there by Chinese manufacturers there, more and more in Europe are still in the global top ten. Six out of ten manufacturers from China are already coming in 2024 in 2024.” Mercedes, on the other hand, is no longer there.