Tesla Rules: Top 5 Worldwide EV Registrations, First Semester 2022

We have just entered the month of August and are quickly going down the road of the second half of 2022. The eighth month of the year is normally good for – apart from going on vacation - taking a look at the commercial results of the first semester. In the first six months of the year, the evolution of plug-in cars on the world scene was evident. The large automobile groups share the sales more or less evenly, although there are clear winners. We will be basically talking about how large car makers have divided the cake in the sales of plug-in vehicles during the first half of 2022.

With the figures in hand, it is clear that China is becoming, by all means, the main actor in electric mobility. The Asian country has not only positioned itself as an excellent buyer, but also as a powerful manufacturer and supplier of components. Last year - and for the fifth consecutive year – Chinese brand CATL ended up becoming the world's largest manufacturer of batteries for electric cars. Sales have skyrocketed in China and around the world: during the first half of the year, more than 7 million plug-in cars have been registered.

The volume of sales is not the only thing that has increased, as the market share of plug-in hybrids and pure, 100% electric vehicles has also increased. As an example, during last month, the BEV sector in Europe was the only one that grew, 33% more than the same month last year, 2021. The rest of the categories suffered a significant setback, anticipating a more than evident market reduction for the coming months.

At a worldwide level, most of the sales are distributed among five large automobile holdings. If we take into account all the plug-in models, the winner during the first semester was Chinese BYD, with a total of 640,748 units sold, representing a market share of 15.4%. The push given by the Chinese brand has been spectacular, managing to overtake the almighty Tesla and the SAIC Group, which by the way has risen to a third place on the podium.

Top 5 worldwide plug-in registrations (PHEV+BEV)

1- BYD: 640,748 registrations (15.4% share)
2- Tesla: 564,873 registrations (13.6% share)
3- SAIC Group: 358,040 registrations (8.6% share)
4- Volkswagen Group: 331,743 registrations (8.0% share)
5- Geely-Volvo: 231,232 registrations (5.6% share)

If we go into the 100% electric (BEV) category, we see how Tesla continues to firmly dominate the market, although it is actually slightly losing market share. The entry into the Top 5 of the Hyundai Group stands out, which manages to steal registrations from other large conglomerates such as SAIC; BYD again shows great strength by almost doubling its global share, from 5.5% to 11%.
Top 5 worldwide electrical registrations (BEV)

1. Tesla: 564,873 registrations (19% share)
2. BYD: 326,236 registrations (11% share)
3. SAIC Group: 321,289 registrations (10.8% share)
4. Volkswagen Group: 216,004 registrations (7.3% share)
5. Hyundai Group: 167,305 registrations (5.6% share)

Source: CleanTechnica

All images courtesy of Tesla Inc.

Nico Caballero is the VP of Finance of Cogency Power, specializing in solar energy. He also holds a Diploma in Electric Cars from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and enjoys doing research about Tesla and EV batteries. He can be reached at @NicoTorqueNews on Twitter. Nico covers Tesla and electric vehicle latest happenings at Torque News.