Electric SUVs are growing in popularity, but not quickly enough to offset the increasing oil consumption and emissions of the wider fleet
Global car markets did not have a good year in 2022, but SUVs 1 were an exception, raising further concerns about their impact on efforts to tackle climate change. A strong increase in sales of electric models was not enough to prevent carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from SUVs worldwide reaching almost 1 billion tonnes in 2022.
Total car sales fell close to 0.5% to around 75 million units2 in 2022, following strong growth in 2021. The contraction was most pronounced in the United States and European Union, where car markets shrunk by around 8% and 4% respectively, due in part to the ripple effect of component shortages, rising inflation and higher interest rates. On the other hand, despite renewed Covid-19 lockdowns, the People’s Republic of China (hereafter “China”) saw passenger car sales increase by more than 10%.
Electric cars bucked the global trend, despite supply chain challenges and rising battery prices. Electric car sales increased in all markets, boosted by an increasing number of models, high oil prices and targeted policy support. Global sales of electric cars increased by around 60% in 2022, according to our latest estimates, surpassing 10 million for the first time, up from sales of 6.6 million in 2021. (More information about the developments of electric car markets will be available in the IEA’s Global EV Outlook 2023). Major car markets were at the forefront of electric cars sales: more than one in four cars sold in China, over one in five in the European Union and nearly one in ten in the United States were electric in 2022, according to data provider EV Volumes.
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