Here are the key highlights for the study:
- Tesla sold 33% of its all cars in 2023.
- Tesla grew 37.7% in 2023 but it wasn't its best year.
- BYD grew its EV sales by 72.8% in 2023.
- Over a half of all BYD's cars sold in 2023 are BEVs.
- VW sold 2 times fewer EVs than BYD in 2023.
While EV sales are on the rise, I decided to look at the pace of growth for the world's biggest BEV maker (still) - Tesla.
You may have heard that the Chinese company BYD outperformed Tesla in sales of plug-ins reaching over 3 million sales in 2023 (the source) - almost twice as much as Tesla. But this is a speculatory claim because BYD sold 1.6 million plug-in hybrids and about 1.5 million BEVs while Tesla sold about 1.8 million vehicles, as reported by the company itself.
I decided to look at the stats for several EV makers and see how the market is developing right now.
Here's the key graph for sales volume that explains a lot:
Tesla deliveries, fleet, and sales
According to the statistics gathered from the official Tesla website, the overall fleet of Tesla cars is now a little under 5.5 million vehicles.
Interestingly, over 1.8 million vehicles were sold in 2023. So, last year, Tesla sold 33% of its overall world fleet!
|
Year |
Tesla Sales |
Growth |
|
2013 |
22,500 |
--- |
|
2014 |
31,700 |
+40.9% |
|
2015 |
50,500 |
+59.3% |
|
2016 |
76,200 |
+50.9% |
|
2017 |
103,000 |
+35.2% |
|
2018 |
245,500 |
+138.3% |
|
2019 |
367,700 |
+49.8% |
|
2020 |
500,000 |
+36.0% |
|
2021 |
936,200 |
+87.2% |
|
2022 |
1,313,900 |
+40.3% |
|
2023 |
1,808,600 |
+37.7% |
While Tesla actually sold one-third of its car fleet in 2023 and showed a growth of 37.7% which is incredible, 2023 shouldn't be considered the best year in the company's history.
2023 was the third worst year in the history of Tesla if you take the pure growth. The situation was worse only in 2017 and 2020.
While the media is pushing the idea that 2023 is the best year for Tesla, we can see from this graph and table that the growth is just natural.
The best growth for Tesla was in 2018 when the company sold 245,500 cars adding over 138% to its 2017 sales.
BYD EV deliveries, fleet, and sales
I should tell you that we don't have as reliable sources for BYD stats as with Tesla. While Tesla issues quarter reports, BYD only features information for news and it can easily be manipulated. However, I will try to use only reliable sources like Insideevs, BYD, and Wiki.
We see that overall, BYD was idling pretty much from 2013 till 2020. In post-pandemic times, the company managed to build up a significant presence in the Chinese market, and in 2023 it also started growing export sales.
The highest gain was in 2022. But we are interested more in EVs rather than in all vehicles including gas and hybrid ones. So, let's look at EV sales by BYD from 2013 to 2023.
Serious growth of EV sales started in 2021 for BYD when volumes of sales became significant. But even though the company managed to sell over 1.5 million EVs in 2023, it still didn't catch up with the 1.8 million sales of Tesla.
But, according to these graphs and tables, it may well catch up with it in 2024.
|
Year |
BYD Sales |
Growth |
BYD EV Sales |
EV Growth |
|
2013 |
514,200 |
--- |
8,000 |
--- |
|
2014 |
446,300 |
-13.2% |
20,900 |
+161.3% |
|
2015 |
451,900 |
+1.3% |
61,700 |
+195.2% |
|
2016 |
510,200 |
+12.9% |
100,200 |
+62.4% |
|
2017 |
421,200 |
-17.4% |
108,600 |
+8.4% |
|
2018 |
528,300 |
+25.4% |
103,300 |
-4.9% |
|
2019 |
468,000 |
-11.4% |
147,200 |
+42.5% |
|
2020 |
431,400 |
-7.8% |
131,300 |
-10.8% |
|
2021 |
749,300 |
+73.7% |
320,810 |
+144.3% |
|
2022 |
1,863,500 |
+148.7% |
911,100 |
+184.0% |
|
2023 |
3,020,000 |
+62.1% |
1,574,800 |
+72.8% |
Total BYD EV sales 2013-2023 is 3,487,900 units while Tesla managed to sell 5,455,800 vehicles for the same period.
Volkswagen EV deliveries, fleet, and sales
When it comes to Volkswagen, we know the brand for its gas and diesel-powered cars. But it isn't just standing aside when it comes to the EV revolution. The ID.4 is selling really well in China and the US, and there are a bunch of other models being launched.
So, according to Insideevs, Statista, and Wikipedia, I managed to build comparable stats for this brand.
In this graph, you see the global sales for the VW brand. It has been really idling for the decade except for the pandemic times when it saw a huge fall for one year. This is the situation that is happening to a lot of traditional car brands now.
Here's what's happening with VW EV sales:
And here's the data I used for these charts.
|
Year |
VW Sales |
Growth |
VW EV Sales |
EV Growth |
|
2013 |
8,958,000 |
--- |
No data |
--- |
|
2014 |
10,140,000 |
+13.2% |
No data |
--- |
|
2015 |
9,930,000 |
-2.1% |
No data |
--- |
|
2016 |
10,391,100 |
+4.6% |
No data |
--- |
|
2017 |
10,741,500 |
+3.4% |
No data |
--- |
|
2018 |
10,800,000 |
+0.5% |
82,700 |
--- |
|
2019 |
6,278,300 |
-41.9% |
70,000 |
-15.4% |
|
2020 |
9,305,400 |
+48.2% |
231,600 |
+230.9% |
|
2021 |
8,882,000 |
-4.6% |
369,000 |
+59.3% |
|
2022 |
8,263,000 |
-7.0% |
572,100 |
+55.0% |
|
2023 |
9,240,000 |
+11.8% |
771,000 |
+34.8% |
We can clearly see that Volkswagen was a little late for the party and now needs to work hard to keep up with global leaders. But It managed to sell 770K electric cars in 2023 - this is 2.5 times fewer than Tesla and two times fewer than BYD but it's still impressive.
Final thoughts
What can I say after conducting this research?
BYD is really here to get all the EV manufacturers. It shows insane growth and isn't going to stop.
We see that the global EV market is growing like crazy but more and more brands are entering it, so traditional leaders may easily lose their leadership in 2024 and later on.
Tesla is still the world's leader in the BEV market but it seems that 2023 was the last year when I could say that.
Traditional car brands are idling heavily in their overall sales while EV sales are growing rapidly.
Want to add anything? Write in the comments below!
About the authors
The CarAraC research team is composed of seasoned auto mechanics and automotive industry professionals, including individuals with advanced degrees and certifications in their field. Our team members boast prestigious credentials, reflecting their extensive knowledge and skills. These qualifications include: IMI: Institute of the Motor Industry, ASE-Certified Master Automobile Technicians; Coventry University, Graduate of MA in Automotive Journalism; Politecnico di Torino, Italy, MS Automotive Engineering; Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Mechanical University in Skopje; TOC Automotive College; DHA Suffa University, Department of Mechanical Engineering
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