50% Increase in the Number of Electric Vehicles Used Worldwide

The German Center for Solar and Hydrogen Energy Research has reported that the number of electric vehicles in use worldwide increased by 50% last year compared to 2022. This report, published on Sunday, August 7, on the website of this clean energy research institution, adds that last year, 42 million electric vehicles were active on the roads globally, with more than half of these vehicles located in China. The number of electric vehicles in China is estimated to reach about 23.4 million by the end of 2023, which is 60% more than in 2022. The United States ranks second with 4.8 million electric vehicles, while Germany comes in third with 2.3 million. The UK and France also rank next in the world in terms of the number of electric vehicles in use. The International Energy Agency has reported a continuous increase in electric vehicle sales worldwide. In May of this year, the International Energy Agency also reported that 14 million new electric vehicles were sold globally last year, which is six times the sales level in 2018. The growth in electric vehicle purchases worldwide continues to trend upward, with three million electric vehicles sold globally in the first quarter of this year, which is 25% more than the same period last year. In Iran, however, the necessary infrastructure for the use of electric vehicles is still lacking, and while officials claim to have imported 10,000 electric vehicles, there has been no report of their clearance from customs and sale to the public. Furthermore, customs statistics indicate that the imported vehicles are hybrid, not fully electric. In this context, the website 'Eghtesad News' reported on August 4 about the 'ambiguous' situation of electric vehicle imports, stating that alongside the electricity shortage, the lack of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles poses a challenge for their use in the country. The ambiguous situation regarding the use of electric vehicles in Iran comes at a time when $3.66 billion worth of electric and hybrid vehicles were sold in Gulf Arab countries last year, and this figure is expected to reach $9 billion in the next five years. In Turkey, nearly 28,000 electric vehicles were sold in the first five months of this year, which is 257% more than the same period last year. Azerbaijan has also eliminated taxes and customs duties on the import of electric vehicles to encourage its citizens to buy them, importing 14,000 electric vehicles last year, which is 17 times more than in 2020. In the first half of this year, this northern neighbor of Iran imported 10,000 electric vehicles, which is equivalent to one-fourth of the total vehicle imports in the country.