Worldwide sales of electric vehicles jumped by 54% last year, but current and planned policies won't achieve an international goal of 30% of new vehicle sales by 2030, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday.
Why it matters: Major progress in electrifying the transport sector — not only passenger cars, but also trucks, buses and other transport — will be vital in achieving very steep greenhouse gas emissions cuts in the coming decades.
But, but, but: The IEA report looks at current trends against what would be needed to reach the collective 30% by 2030 goal — called EV30@30 — set a year ago by the Clean Energy Ministerial, whose members include the U.S., China, the EU, India and over 20 others.
Where things stand now: EV sales surpassed 1 million vehicles in 2017, with China leading the way and accounting for more than half of all sales as EVs reached a market share of 2.2%.
Not just cars: "Electrification of other transport modes is also developing quickly, especially for two-wheelers and buses. In 2017, sales of electric buses were about 100,000 and sales of two-wheelers are estimated at 30 million; for both modes, the vast majority was in China," the report states.
Charging: The number of private charging stations at residences and workplaces reached around 3 million last year. There were around 430,000 publicly accessible chargers worldwide in 2017, and one-fourth were fast-chargers, IEA said.
The big picture: Falling battery costs and increased consumer offerings are helping spur adoption, but growth to date is still "largely driven" by supportive government policies such as financial incentives, public procurement, and low-carbon vehicle mandates, IEA said.
