Amid the accelerating transition from internal combustion engines (ICEs) to electric powertrains, as many as 2.6 million plug-in electric cars were sold during the January through March quarter (Q1) of this year, and just five OEMs are responsible for more than 50% of all those sales.

Total sales of plug-in electric cars in the Q1 accounted for around 13 per cent of the total global car sales, and American electric car pioneer Tesla Motors and Chinese EV maker BYD Incorporated emerged as the two largest manufacturers of rechargeable passenger cars.

As per stats shared by Jose Pontes, the top five OEMs remain stable in the plug-in category, which includes battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).

China-based BYD maintained its #1 position with more than 548,000 units sold in the quarter under review. The figure accounted for a 21.3 per cent share. The Chinese EV maker almost doubled its sales year-over-year.

American billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk-led Tesla emerged as the second OEM in terms of plug-in car sales, with a total of 422,873 units of BEVs and a 16.5 per cent market share.

One of the most interesting things highlighted by Jose Pontes is that both BYD and Tesla enjoyed an increase not only their respective volumes but also their market shares. In fact, these two EV brands outpaced the general plug-in market.

German motor vehicle manufacturer Volkswagen Group (VW) emerged as the third largest OEM by sales volume (189,093 units), but its market share declined from 8.8 per cent in the Q1 of 2022 to 7.4 per cent in the Q1 of 2023.

The fourth and fifth spots were grabbed by Geely-Volvo (156,475 units) and SAIC (141,661 units). Together with these two manufacturers, the top five OEMs were responsible for nearly 57 per cent of all plug-in electric cars sold in the quarter under review worldwide. To be more specific, the top 5 OEMs sold a total of 1,458,250 EVs, accounting for 56.8 per cent share. Other OEMs sold 1,110,877 units, accounting for 43.2 per cent share. In total, 2,569,127 plug-in cars were sold in the Q1 period globally.

Global plug-in car market is expected to continue to grow in the coming quarters as a growing list of new models from established as well as new brands will likely make EVs more mainstream and manageable.