-This video offers a global outlook on the electric vehicle markets. The electric vehicle markets will be approached from the perspective of fleets in circulation, that is to say all circulating or roadworthy electric vehicles, annual sale volumes of electric vehicles, and finally the market shares of electric vehicles in the whole automotive market. This video also recounts the major electric vehicle market trends through these three perspectives. The first thing to be questioned when comparing statistics on an international scale is the scope of this comparison. For the analysis we are interested in, two dimensions of the scope are particularly important: the vehicle categories and the electric drive types we consider for the comparison. Regarding the vehicle categories, we must ask ourselves if we focus on light vehicles or even on a sub-category of light vehicles, private cars or light commercial vehicles such as vans. Or if we include heavy trucks, public transport vehicles such as buses, 2- or 3-wheel motor vehicles or even small-sized or lightweight 4-wheel vehicles that cannot be approved as private cars or light commercial vehicles. Regarding the engine type we consider, we must ask ourselves if we focus on battery-type electric vehicles or if we include plug-in hybrid vehicles, conventional hybrid vehicles or even fuel-cell vehicles in the most recent studies. Each data source has its scope. The best international comparisons precisely define this scope before gathering and cross-checking data coming from many different statistical sources: national statistics and statistics given by vehicle manufacturers that are gathered in associations such as the Committee of French Vehicle Manufacturers in France, the European Automobile Manufacturer's Association in Europe or even the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers and many other local associations. These are prime sources of information for comparisons only if they are sufficiently detailed in order to be reduced to an identical scope of analysis. Statistics on electric vehicle markets have been consolidated by associations or international organizations such as AVERE in Europe or the International Energy Agency on a global scale. To have an outlook on the global electric vehicle markets, we will rely on the statistical consolidation submitted by the International Energy Agency in its report entitled "Global EV Outlook 2017". In order for statistics from one country to another to be comparable, this source focuses its analysis on private cars and specifically on battery-type and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles among those. According to the International Energy Agency, the global fleet of circulating electric cars went over 2 million vehicles in 2016 after going over 1 million in 2015. In 2016, just like during the 5 previous years, there were about 60% battery-type electric vehicles, thus 1.2 million vehicles, and about 40% plug-in hybrid vehicles, thus 800 000 vehicles. Since 2010, the battery-type electric car fleet regularly went ahead of the plug-in hybrid car fleet. The global circulating electric car fleet regularly increases since 2010. However, the annual growth rates of this fleet tend to decrease year after year. This fleet increased by 50% between 2015 and 2016 as opposed to 76% between 2014 and 2015 and 84% between 2013 and 2014. Even though the circulating electric car fleet comprises 2 million vehicles, it only represents 0.2% of the total global circulating cars. On a global scale, the circulating electric car fleet is still far from strongly impacting the balance in terms of fossil fuel consumption or greenhouse gas emissions. Until 2015, the United States housed the main circulating electric car fleet but China became bigger in 2016. China alone represents about a third of the global circulating electric vehicle fleet. Together, China and the United States represent 60% of the global circulating electric car fleet. European countries represent most of the rest of the global fleet with 28%. Thus, electric cars are gathered in a small number of countries. 10 countries worldwide gather 96% of the circulating fleet. The fleet dynamics is greater for battery-type electric cars compared to plug-in hybrid cars, mainly thanks to China where battery-type electric cars prevail. Each country has different fleet characteristics and dynamics. China, France and Norway favor battery-type electric cars. The Netherlands have 88% of plug-in hybrid cars among the total circulating electric car fleet. The United Kingdom has a similar fleet with 64% of plug-in hybrid cars. Japan, Canada and the United States have more balanced fleets between battery-type and plug-in hybrid cars. The global annual sales of electric cars broke a new record in 2016. Over 750 000 cars were sold worldwide. But the 40%-increase of the market in 2016 compared to 2015 is lower than the growth of the previous years since sales increased by at least 50% per year between 2010 and 2015. In 2016, China was by far the main market for new electric cars with over 40% of the total: 336 000 electric cars sold over one year, thus more than twice as much as the sales in the United States. European countries considered together represent 215 000 electric cars sold in 2016. Once again, each country has different market characteristics. Most of China's and France's electric car sales are battery-type electric cars. Conversely, plug-in hybrid cars prevail in the Dutch, Swedish and British markets. The sale distribution is more balanced in Japan and Norway. Both on a European and global scale, we can consider that the market of new electric cars is highly concentrated. China, the United States, Japan, Canada, Norway, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden gather 95% of the global electric car sales. The battery-type electric car market is even more concentrated than the market of plug-in hybrid cars since China, the United States, Norway, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany gather 93% of the global sales. Regarding the market shares of electric cars among the whole private car market, the 1%-threshold has been exceeded in 2016 on a global scale. Over 1 private car out of 100 sold worldwide in 2016 was an electric car. Three countries stand out in terms of electric car market shares. Norway is in the lead and reached a rate of 29% in 2016. The Netherlands went down to 6% after reaching 9% in 2015. In 2016, Sweden went over 3% of electric private car sales. The success of electric cars in Norway can be explained by public policies which support them in a very favorable and complete way. If we take a closer look at what is going on around the 1% threshold, we notice that three countries have similar evolutions in terms of electric car market shares. France is in the lead with almost 1.5% of the sales in 2016, closely followed by the United Kingdom then China around 1.4% of electric car sales. Apart from these 6 countries which crossed the 1% threshold, we notice that 4 countries are getting close to it. The electric car market share dynamics in Canada seems to be steady. In the United States, Japan and Germany, the curve is more uneven. The electric car market share reached a plateau in the United States between 2013 and 2015 but it seems to be increasing again. Germany has also reached a plateau in 2015-2016. As for Japan, electric car sale shares seem to be stuck between 0.5 and 0.7% since 2012. But it does not prevent Japan from having the third global electric car fleet. Do not forget that the outlook we have just given you only is only related to battery-type and plug-in hybrid electric cars. The consolidation of statistics for the global markets of electric vehicles such as light commercial vehicles, heavy trucks, buses, etc. would be a useful addition and will be occasionally presented in the videos related to these statistics. That being said, the outlook we have made shows that the dynamics of electric cars still relies on a small number of countries worldwide. China and the United States are in the lead in terms of fleet and annual sales. European countries are catching up and several of these countries have nice dynamics in terms of market shares. Apart from this small number of countries which have rather clear dynamics favoring electric cars on a global scale, several countries seem to have non-consolidated dynamics especially those where electric cars have not yet been over the 1% threshold of annual private car sales. Electric cars are still relatively absent from some major markets, India in particular. Generally speaking, except for China which is a major emerging country, electric private cars have not yet found specific outlets in developing countries.
