Looking at hybrid and EV sales in the first quarter of 2022, it becomes apparent that this segment of the market has almost doubled, and now makes around 10 percent of all vehicles sold.
In absolute terms, it translates into nearly two million EVs and hybrids sold within one quarter of the year. Pure EVs accounted for over 70 percent of this figure, with more than a half of the market divided among five leading manufacturers.
Tesla led the charts with over 310,000 units sold and 15.5% of the total share (down 0.5% from the first quarter of 2021).
BYD managed to move 286,000 battery vehicles (14.3%) and reported selling approximately the same number of hybrids as EVs.
Next down the rating list is SAIC Group, which also includes the SAIC-GM-Wuling joint enterprise, with a touch above 170,000 units sold (8.5%). Only around 16,000 cars out of this number were hybrids, while full EVs constituted the overwhelming majority.
Volkswagen Group showed a respectable 155,000 units sold (8.8%, down 3.2% from last year), including 98,500 EVs. The Geely-Volvo duet managed to find buyers for 110,300 electrified cars and take a share of 5.6 percent.
Trailing the list of major contributing automakers is Hyundai Motor Group, which sold several thousand fewer EVs than Geely-Volvo, but nonetheless moved nearly 82,000 full-on battery cars.