- Global electric vehicle sales surged by 69% in January compared to last year.
- Germany and France saw a drop in sales due to changes in subsidy policies.
- General Motors announced plans to introduce plug-in hybrid vehicles in North America amidst rising interest in hybrids in the US and Canada.
In January, electric car sales worldwide shot up by a whopping 69 percent compared to the same time last year. But hold on, they dropped by 26 percent compared to December. Why? Well, it seems like Germany and France tightened up their rules for giving out subsidies, making it a bit harder for folks to get discounts on electric rides. Plus, in China, sales tend to dip around this time of year, so that’s another reason for the drop.
Even with the dip, though, over a million fully electric cars and plug-in hybrids were sold in January, which is way more than last year’s 660,000.
Charles Lester from Rho Motion, a company that keeps tabs on this stuff, mentioned that in Germany and France, sales took a hit because they changed up their subsidy game. Germany stopped giving out subsidies altogether, while France made their rules stricter.
But there’s some good news on the line: starting in 2025, the European Union is laying down some new rules about how much carbon dioxide cars can emit. This means car companies will probably start making more electric and hybrid cars to meet those standards.
Over in the US and Canada, electric car sales were up by 41 percent compared to last year. And get this – they nearly doubled in China! In Europe (which includes the European Free Trade Association and the UK), sales went up by 29 percent.
But when you look at the numbers compared to December, things start to look a little different. In China, sales dropped by 26 percent right before the Chinese New Year celebrations kicked off. In Europe, they went down by 32 percent, and in the US and Canada, they fell by 14 percent.
Recently, General Motors, one of the big car companies, said they’re planning to start selling plug-in hybrid vehicles in North America. This is a bit of a switcheroo from their earlier strategy of not focusing on hybrids in that market.
Why the change? Well, it seems like more and more people in the US and Canada are warming up to hybrid cars. Maybe it’s because electric cars can be pretty expensive, or maybe it’s because there aren’t enough places to charge them up yet.
So, to sum it up, electric car sales are on the rise globally, but there are some bumps along the way. With new rules coming into play in Europe and big car companies changing t