The 25 electric vehicle capitals are selected based on cumulative plug-in electric
passenger vehicles from 2010 to 2019. illustrates these cumulative sales,
distinguishing between battery electric vehicles (BEVs, blue) and plug-in hybrid
electric vehicles (PHEVs, green). It also shows the electric vehicle sales share of new
passenger vehicle sales in 2019 for these cities (points, right axis). The total for each
market is based on new vehicle sales, registrations, or incentive payments, which we
consider to all be close proxies for sales.7
Each of the 25 electric vehicle capitals has registered at least 50,000 electric
passenger vehicles. As in previous years, Shanghai leads in cumulative electric vehicles,
with over 310,000 registered through 2019, closely followed by Beijing (300,000),
Shenzhen (260,000), and Los Angeles (255,000). Beijing maintains its large lead in
cumulative BEV registrations, around 295,000 through 2019, more than twice as many
as any other city.
The two electric vehicle capitals in Norway continue to grow their electric vehicle
sales shares further into the mainstream market, with 67% of passenger vehicle sales
being electric in Bergen in 2019 and 64% in Oslo. Liuzhou had the greatest sales share
outside of Norway at 24%, while San Jose and Shenzhen each had sales shares close
to 20%. Thirteen of these capitals experienced electric vehicle sales shares over 10% in
2019, an increase of one over the previous year. A deeper discussion of the evolution of
electric vehicle sales trends in these cities is presented below.
CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE
One of the largest hurdles in the broad transition to electric mobility is the construction
of a comprehensive charging infrastructure network to build range confidence and
maximize electric vehicles’ emission reductions and cost savings, by enabling greater
electric vehicle utility. Cities have an especially critical role in building charging
infrastructure as many urban drivers lack convenient home charging.8 The needs
for charging infrastructure vary widely among the leading cities due to underlying
transportation, demographic, and housing patterns. Yet, all of the cities are working to
develop innovative solutions to accelerate charging infrastructure growth.
Figure 3 compares the amount of public charging available at the end of 2019 in each
market using several metrics: the absolute number of public chargers, the number of
public chargers per million population, and the number of electric passenger vehicles
per public charger. The metropolitan areas are listed from top to bottom by the four
main regions, then in decreasing order of number of chargers per million population
within each region. Data for the remaining electric vehicle capitals in China were not
available. The figures for Shenzhen and Guangzhou may include some dedicated
chargers, such as private workplace chargers and bus and sanitation truck chargers.
Although there are minor data source inconsistences across the markets, the major
trends in each region and city concerning the three metrics are evident.
a number of trends across the electric vehicle capitals. First, the
cities in China have by far the most public charging on an absolute basis: each of the
four cities analyzed here have more than twice as much than any city outside of China.
When considering charging per million population, Shenzhen has a wide lead with over
6,700 public chargers per million population. Amsterdam and Oslo follow with just
under 4,000 chargers per million population, with all other cities counting below 2,500
in that metric. There is no clear pattern in terms of the number of electric vehicles
per public charger. While Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Amsterdam, London, and
Tokyo have fewer than 10 electric vehicles per public charger, the ratio is greater than
25 in Oslo, Bergen, and the three cities in California. This metric depends strongly on
access to private home charging and on vehicle usage patterns.9
Electric vehicle charging infrastructure buildout has been supported by policies and
strategies at the local, regional, and national level, including additional programs to
tackle home and workplace charging. The key policies and actions in place in the
electric vehicle capitals are described and catalogued in the section on supporting
policies and actions.