The International Energy Agency is reminding governments to match the continued rapid growth of electric car sales with infrastructure improvements.
In the annual Global EV Outlook, the IEA estimates that China is leading the way in global electric car indstry., EV sales in the country are expected to reach approximately 10 million, or 45 per cent of all car sales, in 2024. Around 25 per cent of new cars in Europe will be electric, and one in nine in the US.
The IEA says in the report:"The number of electric cars sold globally in the first three months of this year is roughly equivalent to the number sold in all of 2020."It's all heady stuff, particularly considering a softening outlook for passenger car sales in regions such as Europe. Should current policies remain as they are, the IEA expects that half of all cars sold globally by 2035 will be electric.
"To meet a level of electric vehicle deployment in line with the pledges made by governments, charging networks need to grow sixfold by 2035," the IEA report says. And then there are the electricity grids, which the IEA also acknowledges would require policy support and planning to ensure the increase in demand would not not overstretch the infrastructure.The report also notes that in China, 60 percent of electric cars sold in 2023 were less expensive than their conventional counterparts, a statistic that buyers in the US and Europe, where internal combustion engined cars tend to be cheaper, can only dream of.