3.2 million units of EV sold in 2020: EV Volumes

Electric vehicle (EV) __ pure EV, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen __ sales reached 3.2 million units in 2020, 100,000 units higher than expected, EV Volumes said on Tuesday.

Unit sales were also much higher than 2019’s 2.62 million.

The effects of COVID-19 in the first half of 2020 saw sales slow but new car launches in the second half allowed for the increase in unit sales.

In the month of December, 580,000 units were sold, the highest figure for a month in 2020. Sales in Europe led this increase __ sales in Netherlands tripled from November and in Spain it doubled. In the US, there was a 35% increase in the same time period.

In Germany, annual sales reached 390,000 units, surpassing US’ 320,000 units to become the world’s second largest EV market. Denmark and Italy saw 200% increases in 2020 compared to 2019. Other European countries also saw over 100% increases.

South Korea ranked 14th in unit sales __ the country saw 58,000 units sold in 2020, an increase of 50% from 2019.

EV Volumes said the market reacted to new EV launches and automobile companies’ increase in year’s end sales to avoid the European Union’s carbon emission regulation helped the growth. Volkswagen’s ID.3 began sales in September __ in Germany, the car sold 7,144 units in December and 15,140 units in total in 2020. Global unit sales for the model reached 54,300 units.

Fiat 500e, which begin sales in November, also reached 6,288 units in 2020. It was only sold in Europe and sales is likely to increase when it launches globally in 2021.

Increase in EV unit sales will likely be a boon to South Korean EV battery makers. LG Energy Solution supplies batteries for both ID.3 and 500e. Renault's ZOE also uses LG’s battery. Hyundai Motor uses SK Innovation’s for Kona EV produced in Czech.