Consumer Thirst for Electric Vehicles Remains Unquenched
In September 2021, McKinsey & Co. issued a report proclaiming the arrival of the «unstoppable electric car,» predicting electric vehicles would account for more than half of all passenger U.S. car sales by 2030.
«That the global EV market has continued to heat up in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic is no less than remarkable,» McKinsey wrote.
The year since that report has reinforced McKinsey's bullish assessment. Strong consumer demand for electric vehicles has caused shortages that may last through 2023 for semiconductors used in their production, and global investment in installation and hardware for EV charging stations has tripled in just the past two years.
U.S. auto sales this year signal the scope of consumers' shift to EVs. Through the third quarter, total sales of new cars, SUVs, trucks, and vans fell 12.6%. But EV sales surged 70.7%, accounting for one of every 20 new cars sold—doubling EV's market share of total new car sales in just a year.In the third quarter, EV sales surpassed 200,000 in a single quarter for the first time.
The U.S. data reflect the growing worldwide appetite for EVs. In the first half of 2022, global EV sales rose 62% to 4.3 million. The global EV market share of total new car sales rose to 11.3%, compared with 6.3% in the comparable period last year. Sales for Tesla, the world's largest EV maker, increased 45% in the first three quarters of 2022, with sales for rivals such as Rivian also increasing.
Government policies mandating or promoting EVs promise to underpin ongoing demand growth. The European Union and the state of California both recently banned the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines—the kind that require gasoline—beginning in 2035. The EU and California will
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