The U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) and the Argonne National Laboratory recently compiled data showing that global light-duty plug-in vehicle sales, led by China and Western Europe, grew 80% in 2015. The EIA estimates that over 565,000 plug-in vehicles were sold around the world in 2015 – a 10-fold increase from 2011.
In 2014, there were an estimated 315,519 global plug-in vehicle sales.
China led the way in plug-in vehicle sales with 214,238 units sold, more than doubling the nation’s plug-in vehicle sales from 2014. Western Europe wasn’t far behind, however, with 184,500 plug-in vehicle sales last year – an 80% increase over 2014.
In Japan, plug-in vehicle sales grew over 50%, from 30,567 in 2014 to 46,339 in 2015. Canada more than tripled its sales of plug-in cars, growing from 1,521 in 2014 to 5,284 in 2015.
Only the U.S. saw a decline of plug-in vehicle sales, dropping 3% in 2015 to 115,262 units sold.
