Global electric vehicle sales grow 18% compared to January 2024

Electric vehicle (EV) research house Rho Motion revealed that the number of electric vehicles sold globally in January 2025 is 1.3 million. While it was down more than a third from December’s record-breaking month, the global market has grown 18% compared to January 2024.

“With emission standards coming into force for European manufacturers this year, all eyes are on the opening month for the region which shows encouraging growth at 21% compared to the same time last year,” says Rho Motion Data Manager Charles Lester. “The Chinese market, as expected, shrunk 43% from the previous month as drivers tend to go all in at the end of the year before the Chinese New Year public holidays fall in January and February. The U.S. & Canada market hasn’t yet been impacted by the new occupant of the White House and is showing a consistent year-on-year increase of 22%. All in all, an uncontroversial start to the year for the EV market globally, though this is not going to remain that way for long.”

Snapshot electric vehicle sales in Jan 2025 vs Jan 2024 (m-o-m vs Dec ‘24)

• Global: 1.3 million, +18% (-35%)
• China: 0.7 million, +12% (-43%)
• EU & EFTA & UK: 0.25 million, +21% (-19%)
• USA & Canada: 0.13 million, +22% (-28%)
• Rest of World: 0.13 million, +50% (-4%)

EU & EFTA & UK
The EU & EFTA & UK EV market started 2025 up by 21% after selling more than 250,000 EV units in January 2025. The European market started strong and must continue to do so to meet the emission standards for 2025, otherwise manufacturers will face tough fines. Most European markets grew year-on-year, including Germany where EV sales grew by over 40% y-o-y and BEV sales grew by over 50% y-o-y. However, the French market fell by -52% m-o-m and by -15% y-o-y. This was due to the introduction of a weight tax on PHEVs which began in January 2025, which led to significant prebuying in PHEVs in December 2024 before the introduction of the tax.

China
The Chinese market grew by 12% in January 2025 compared to the same period last year, with continued momentum from the extension of the national car trade-in scheme. Chinese EV sales fell by 43% month-on-month in January 2025. However, in China, the opening two months of the year are typically the weakest due to the Chinese New Year. As the Chinese holiday falls mostly in February this year, like 2024, we expect February EV (and total vehicle) sales to also be low.

U.S. & Canada
The U.S. & Canada EV market started the year with 22% growth in EV sales y-o-y, reaching 0.13 million units sold, and down -28% compared to December 2024.

The Federal Tax Credit of up to $7,500 is still available for many BEVs and one PHEV, despite fears it would be eliminated following Trump’s inauguration. The requirements for the tax credit have, however, narrowed in 2025 as there is a stricter percent of the value of critical materials in EV batteries that must be sourced or processed in the U.S. or a U.S. trading partner. Several EV models lost their eligibility as a result which is expected to squeeze the market for the rest of the year.