The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa’s (NAAMSA) quarterly review in the first quarter of2024, shows a significant increase in new energy vehicle (NEV) sales compared to the same period the year before.
According to its data, 3,042 NEVs were sold in South Africa between January and March 2024, compared to 1,665 vehicles sold during the same period in 2023.
This is an estimated increase of nearly 83%.
NEVs comprise fully electric, plug-in hybrid, and traditional hybrid vehicles.
The latter saw the most significant jump in sales year over year. Between January and March 2023, manufacturers sold 1,408 traditional hybrids.
This figure increased to 2,574 units in the first three months of 2024.
However, plug-in hybrid sales saw the highest proportional growth, increasing from 25 units in Q1 2023 to 138 in Q1 2024 — a more than fivefold increase.
Sales also surged for fully electric vehicles, with 98 more units sold in the first quarter of 2024 than in the first quarter of 2023.
Moreover, total NEV sales during the year’s first quarter equal nearly 40% of all NEV sales during the entirety of 2023.
In South Africa, 3,042 NEV units were sold during Q1 2024, compared to 7,746 during 2023 as a whole, which was already a record year for NEV sales in the country.
“NEV sales breached the 1% for the first time and comprised 1,45% of the total new vehicle market in 2023 compared to 0,88% of total new vehicle sales in 2022,” according to NAAMSA.
A report by the Energy Information Association (EIA), point to an increase in global sales of electric cars, which neared 14 million, reaching 18% of all cars sold, in 2023.
This is up from 14% in 2022.
Electric car sales in 2023 were 3.5 million higher than in 2022, which is a 35% year-on-year increase.
Over 250 000 electric cars were sold every week last year, more than the number sold in a year just a decade ago.
Chinese carmakers produced more than half of all electric cars sold worldwide in 2023, despite accounting for just 10% of global sales of cars with internal combustion engines.
Most EVs were sold in 2023 were in China (60%), Europe (25%) and the United States (10%).
These countries account for around 65% of total car sales worldwide.
Growth picked up in 2023 in countries such as Vietnam (around 15% of all cars sold) and Thailand (10%).