Recently I was asked to reflect a little on the recent EV movement, so I dug a bit on the latest statistics. 2022 is not over yet, so the latest number we have is from 2021. I was encouraged to find that while everyone was focusing on the COVID in 2021, EV sales actually nearly doubled compared to 2020!
Here is the infographic from Statista:
You will find more infographics at Statista
That is a huge deal. It meant that we have entered a phase of accelerating adoption. This is the first year that we have more than 100% growth rate.
However, some important questions remain as we look ahead.
First, will the recent COVID-19 slow down the EV adoption trend? We are not sure yet. There have been reports that the supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic have reduced EV supply. But on the other hand, more production capacities have been allocated towards producing EVs, so the net effect is not clear yet.
EV charging infrastructure is another important factor in driving EV adoption. There are more evidence that the current infrastructure is not catching up with surging demand. Therefore cities around the world need to come up ways that are unique to each city in order to build more chargers.
Lastly, public policies have always been important, even though they may be less about EV subsidies but more about building EV infrastructure. Around the world, EV chargers have more than doubled from 2018-2020. But we need more in order to sustain the rapid EV adoption, and not choke it.