Canalys: China's EV sales to grow by more than 50% in 2021

22 February 2021, 11:51:30

New research from Canalys shows that a record 1.3 million electric vehicles (EVs) were sold in China in 2020. But year-on-year growth was modest at only 8%. In comparison, worldwide sales of EVs rocketed by 39% in 2020, as reported here.

The Chinese government has been supportive of the transition to EVs, but several changes to EV-related policies and consumer subsidies in recent years disrupted the market and car makers struggled to build sales momentum. "The Chinese EV market in 2020 was all about two vehicles: the made-in-China Tesla Model 3, the market leader in the first half of 2020, and the Hongguang Mini EV from the SGMW joint venture (SAIC, General Motors and Wuling), the market leader in the second half of 2020, which only launched mid-year," said Chris Jones, Chief Analyst for automotive at Canalys, "If it had not been for the huge success of these two very different EVs, the Chinese EV market would have declined in 2020. Between them, the two models represented one in five of all EVs sold in China."

The 1.3 million EVs sold in China in 2020 represented 41% of global EV sales, just behind Europe with 42% of global EV sales. China is still far ahead of the US for EV share - in the US, EV sales represented just 2.4% of sales in 2020.

"Prospects are very good for China's EV market in 2021," said Jones. "There is already an excellent network of standardized public EV chargers in China, good government support and now a return to strong consumer demand." Tesla has already started deliveries of the made-in-China Model Y. Production of the Hongguang Mini EV has been increased to keep up with demand, particularly from young Chinese urbanites. Other small, more affordable city cars, such as the Baojun E-Series from SGMW and the Ora R1 from Great Wall Motors (GWM), are also proving very popular. The Ora R1, touted as the world’s cheapest EV, will also soon go on sale in India, where the EV share was less than 0.5% of all cars sold in 2020. Canalys forecasts 1.9 million EVs will be sold in China in 2021, growth of 51% and a 9% share of all cars sold in China.

"With a share of just 6.3% of all passenger cars sold in China in 2020, EVs have many years of growth ahead," said Sandy Fitzpatrick, VP at Canalys. "But with Tesla expanding its portfolio in China, it will be hard for competitors offering premium EVs to gain market share. With that in mind, some Chinese car makers are already looking for growth opportunities in other parts of the world, especially Europe," said Fitzpatrick.

China is still the world's largest car market. 30% of global car sales were in China in 2020, up from 27% in 2019. The overall Chinese car market will return to sales growth in 2021.Source

News related to EV, electric vehicles, Tesla, Model 3, SAIC or Hongguang

The 2021 Tesla Model X refresh is largely similar to that of the 2021 Model S. For a more detailed overview, you can check out the report on the Model S. It includes the updated drivetrain and battery pack as well as the interior with the new steering wheel (Yoke Steering), 17" Cinematic Display, tri-zone climate control, etc. The Model X retains its panoramic windshield and can also be configured up to 7 seats. On...

28 January 2021

Tesla has unveiled the long-awaited refresh of the Model S introducing a new drivetrain with technology already used by the Model 3 and Model Y, including carbon-sleeved rotors and torque vectoring for the Plaid and Plaid+ trims. In addition, while using the same 18650 cells, Tesla has redesigned the battery pack with new coolant channels and added the hear pump introduced on the Model 3 and Model Y. The redesigned...

28 January 2021

Jointly founded by SAIC Motor, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech and Alibaba Group, IM Motors (Zhiji Motors in Chinese), a premium intelligent pure electric vehicle brand, was simultaneously premiered in Shanghai China, CES in Las Vegas and London, UK. At the brand launch, IM Motors unveiled two ready-for-production models - the Intelligent Pure Electric Car and SUV. The English brand name IM Motors stands for Intelligence in...

18 January 2021

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of China has issued its latest list for approved new vehicles for the local market and another list for new NEV vehicles that are approved for the government's tax exemption purchase. The China-made Tesla Model Y with model code TSL6480BEVBA0 is included in those lists, meaning it can now be sold and the new owners of Model Y unit produced at Tesla Giga...

30 November 2020

The State Grid Co., Ltd. held an event in Beijing on November 20 to launch its latest ambitious project - a China-wide EV charging grid that includes more than 1.03 million public and private charging stations that cover the 29 provinces and 273 cities serving 5.5 million EV drivers. Among them, there are 140,000 self-operated charging stations by the State Grid, 380,000 private charging stations, and more than...

23 November 2020

ID.4 X - SAIC Volkswagen's first MEB platform pure electric vehicle debuted in Shenzhen. The vehicle is already available for reservations in China. With a range of up to 555 km (NEDC), it costs CNY 250,000 (USD 37,780). This is rear-drive model with a maximum power of 150 kW and a peak torque of 310 Nm. The new car adopts the latest design language of the Volkswagen brand electric car family and reshapes the...

6 November 2020

Reuters reports that Panasonic develops the new 4680 battery cells for Tesla's vehicles. The information comes from Panasonic's CFO Hirokazu Umeda who shared this information during a briefing earlier today. He also said that Panasonic started working on the 4680 battery immediately after Tesla's Battery Day. Moroever, Panasonic is preparing to set up a prototype production line in parallel. An additional production...

29 October 2020

Twenty days ago Tesla released its production and delivery report for Q3 2020 and earlier today it has released its financial report. The main highlights of the report are: Total revenue grew 39% YoY in Q3 2020. Operating income improved in Q3 to a record level of $809M, resulting in a 9.2% operating margin. Fremont capacity of Model 3 / Model Y has been increased to 500,000 per year. Shanghai capacity of Model 3...

22 October 2020

In Q3 of 2020, Tesla marks another record of EV deliveries. The company has produced 145,036 vehicles and delivered 139,300 vehicles. In model-specific terms, the figures are as follows: Model S/X - 16,992 produced; 15,200 delivered Model 3/Y - 128,044 produced; 124,100 delivered The delivery count should be viewed as slightly conservative, as Tesla deems a car as delivered if it is transferred to the customer and...

2 October 2020

Tesla's 2020 Shareholders Meeting was a lengthy event with many proceedings before the interesting part actually began - the "Battery Day" part. There are five important pieces of information that one could take from this event: Tesla has developed a new battery dubbed 4680 The so called structural battery is unveiled Battery production is optizmied to reduce costs by the using of raw silicone 2021 Model S Plaid is...

23 September 2020

According to South Korean news outlet The Guru, Tesla will no longer use Panasonic batteries for its production in China. LG Chem and CATL will be the main suppliers for cylindrical cells for China-made Tesla models. In particular, as the deal with LG Chem expands, LG Chem is expected to emerge as the main supplier to take charge of battery volume for Tesla's Chinese electric vehicle models. This information comes...

28 July 2020

South Korean media report that Tesla has asked LG Chem to prepare a report for all carbon dioxide emissions data related to battery production. For sure, acquiring this data is very time-consuming. It includes data from the production and delivery of raw materials to the production and delivery of the end product. This includes data from suppliers. And all this has to be verified. Reportedly, LG has started to...

28 July 2020

The General Terms and Conditions between Tesla and Panasonic dating back to October 1, 2014, have been restated and amended. The 2020 GTC, among other things, modifies the term to expire 10 years after Panasonic achieves certain manufacturing milestones. On June 10, 2020, Tesla and Panasonic also entered into the 2020 Pricing Agreement effective as of April 1, 2020 until March 31, 2023, relating to the manufacture...

18 June 2020

As of June 15, all North American 2020 Tesla Model S Long Range Plus vehicles have an official EPA range of 402 miles, which is almost a 20% increase in range when compared to a 2019 Model S Long Range with the same battery pack design. Tesla has managed to achieve this increase in several ways: by significantly reducing the mass of the vehicle by using new Tempest 8.5 inch-wide aero wheels and tires by increasing...

16 June 2020