How global electric car sales defied COVID-19 in 2020

As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded in early 2020 and lockdowns were implemented in countries around the world, global car sales experienced an unprecedented drop. Despite gradual recovery over the course of the year, early market data suggests that global car sales contracted in 2020 by an estimated 14% year-on-year, mirroring closely the IEA estimate of 15%. The drop in global car sales in 2020 was significantly larger than the one observed during the global financial crisis of 2007-2009.As the pandemic began to surge in early 2020, there was a general expectation that electric car markets would likely be more resilient than the general automotive sector although a drop in electric car sales was generally expected nonetheless, albeit a smaller one than overall car sales. The IEA estimated a slight increase in global electric car sales despite the pandemic, and suggested that this could be higher if additional stimulus measures were taken. Electric car sales in 2020 broke all records amidst the crisis caused by the pandemic Global electric car sales by key markets, 2010-2020e Open expand