China is approaching one million new energy vehicles per month

In China, sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids reached a new record last month. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) reached around 956,000 units in October.

That means 52,000 more vehicles were sold in October than in the previous record month of September 2023. That is a plus of 5.75 per cent. Compared to October 2022, sales increased about 34 per cent – 714,000 New Energy Vehicles were sold back then. The CAAM figures are manufacturers’ wholesale figures – in addition to cars sold in China, they also include vehicles built in China for export.

New energy vehicles include plug-in hybrids, battery electric cars and fuel cell cars – although the latter play a minor role in China, with 500 units sold in October. 646,000 of the 956,000 NEVs sold last month were purely battery-electric vehicles, and 310,000 were plug-in hybrids. That corresponds to a ratio of 67.6 to 32.4 per cent.

New record for battery-electric cars

Incidentally, 646,000 BEVs are also a new record. Compared to September, the number of all-electric cars sold increased by three per cent; compared to October 2022, it is an increase of 19 per cent. The growth in plug-in hybrids was even greater: 11.9 per cent more than in September and 80.2 per cent more year-on-year.

The entire Chinese car market across all drive types grew by 1.5 per cent year-on-year to 2.853 million units. As a result, the NEV share was 33.5 per cent, and all-electric cars achieved a market share of 22.6 per cent. The figure for PHEVs was 10.9 per cent, while the 500 FCEVs accounted for a market share of 0.017 per cent.

Regarding manufacturers, it was also a new record month for market leader BYD. BYD sold more than 300,000 cars with charging connections for the first time in one month. The exact figure was 301,095, divided into 165,505 BEVs and 135,590 PHEVs. A total of 30,521 New Energy Vehicles from BYD were exported.

The long-standing pattern that BYD is ahead in New Energy Vehicles thanks to its plug-in hybrids, but Tesla sells the most BEVs, has not been true for a while now – BYD is increasing its BEV lead. Tesla sold 72,115 electric cars produced in China in October, 43,489 of which were exported and 28,626 sold in China.

The China start-up and VW partner Xpeng also set a new record in October, breaking the 20,000 mark for the first time with 20,002 vehicles. The growth was driven by the new G6 EV SUV, which accounted for 8,741 units. Nio, which is also active in Europe, increased sales by 59.8 per cent year-on-year, but with 16,074 vehicles sold in October, it remains behind Xpeng.

Close race between Xpeng, Leapmotor and Nio

Between the two companies is the new Stellantis partner Leapmotor. 18,202 vehicles sold in October also represents a new record for Leapmotor. Geely brand Zeekr is approaching from behind with constant growth: The 13,077 new Zeekr (+29.2 per cent compared to October 2022) also represents a record for the brand. Neta, on the other hand, saw a slight decline in October: 12,085 vehicles represent a decrease of around 8.5 per cent compared to September. That means Neta has fallen just behind Aito, the premium NEV brand from Seres and Huawei: Aito recorded 12,700 sales in October, of which the M7 SUV accounted for 10,547 units.

BAIC BJEV remains in the four-digit range: monthly sales reached 7,014 units in October, compared to 5,569 units in the same period last year. Dongfeng’s NEV brand, Voyah, sold 6,067 vehicles, while Avatr (from Changan, Huawei and CATL) sold 3,888 units.

cnevpost.com (market overview), cnevpost.com (BYD), cnevpost.com (Tesla), xiaopeng.com (Xpeng), nio.com (Nio), cnevpost.com (Leapmotor), cnevpost.com (Zeekr), cnevpost.com (Neta), gasgoo.com (Aito, BAIC BJEV, Voyah, and Avatr)