Global electric vehicle sales for January reveal US-driven spurt

Worldwide sales of EVs in January this year hit 1.3 million, representing a jump of 18%, on the same month in 2024, electric vehicle (EV) research house Rho Motion has revealed. Despite the rise, this was a 35% fall on December.

EU, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and UK EV sales increased 21% on an annual basis to 0.25 million in January, while US and Canada sales rose 22% to 0.13m.

Conversely, China experienced comparatively softer growth, wth EV sales advancing 12% in January 2025 compared with January 2024. This was mainly due to the first two months of the year typically being slow in China because of the Chinese New Year. 

Weaker sales predicted because of Chinese New Year date

As such, Rho Motion, also estimates that Chinese February EV and total vehicle sales will also be weaker, as the Chinese New Year falls primarily in February in 2025. 

EV sales in the rest of the world jumped 50% on an annual basis to 0.13 million in January.

Charles Lester, data manager at Rho Motion, said on the company’s website: “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. 

“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 US & 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.”

European market continues to see strong EV sales

The EU, EFTA and UK market kicked off the year on a strong note, with EV sales touching 250,000 in January. Changing European emissions standards this year could encourage car makers to make a more marked shift to electric vehicles, to try to avoid high fines. 

German EV sales increased more than 40% on an annual basis in January, but French EV sales dropped 15% year-on-year. This was mainly because of a weight tax being implemented on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) from January onwards, which prompted consumers to buy more of such vehicles in December, to avoid the tax. 

The EU EV market continued to remain robust in January despite the bloc introducing higher import taxes on Chinese electric vehicles last year. This was following concerns of the Chinese government unfairly subsidising domestic EV makers, thus allowing them to sell their products at much lower prices in Europe, undermining European manufacturers. 

However, the current tariffs only cover battery electric vehicles (BEVs), which has led to several Chinese EV manufacturers to focus more on hybrid vehicles, in an effort to continue growing their European market share.