Jan. sees 18% EV sales growth on the year, but Dec. sales still dominate

• Global EV sales increased in January 2025 by 18% compared to January 2024. However, sales for the month compared to record-breaking December highs fell 35%.
• The U.S. and Canada saw the highest increase compared to last January, with sales up 22%.
• China saw the lowest growth, with 12% growth year over year, potentially due to slow sales in the months before the Chinese New Year.

---

Full Story

While some companies, like Toyota, expand on their electric vehicle (EV) offerings, others, like Ford, are pulling back. Newly released data from Rho Motion, an EV research house, shows that sales are growing but still fluctuating.

Global sales of EVs increased in January compared to 12 months ago, jumping 18% year over year to 1.3 million. While the sales are high compared to last January, they are a sharp decrease from record-high sales in December 2024.

How were regional sales?

Sales worldwide improved from January 2024, despite falling since December. Some drops were predictable, such as France seeing a drastic drop — more on that later. Another predictable drop was in China, which normally has weaker sales in the months before the Chinese New Year. Markets in the U.S. and Canada have grown as well.

Here are the numbers for January 2025, as compared first to January 2024 and then to December 2024:

• Global sales stood at 1.3 million, an increase of 18%, but a decrease of 35% month over month.
• China saw sales of 700,000, an increase of 12%, but a decrease of 43% month over month.
• The EU, EFTA and U.K. saw sales growth of 250,000, an increase of 21%, but a drop of 19% month over month.
• The U.S. and Canada saw sales growth of 130,000, an increase of 22%, but a decrease of 28% month over month.
• The rest of the world saw sales growth of 130,000, an increase of 50%, but a decrease of 4% month over month.

Declining sales from December 2024

While sales were up from January 2024, this year’s January saw a sharp decrease from December. Sales dropped by 35%, with over 600,000 fewer sales from December’s 1.9 million unit high mark.

While a variety of factors pushed the purchase of EVs in December, one of the most prominent is a new weight tax on plug-in hybrid vehicles in France, which was implemented in January this year. This tax precipitated a 52% month-over-month decrease in sales from December to January.

Here’s the good news for EVs

While December’s record-breaking sales may have been influenced by potentially incoming hardship for the EV industry, there are still reasons for some EV optimism. According to Cox Automotive, the U.S. could see 1 in 4 vehicles sold in the states be EVs in 2025.

Researchers at Rho Motion also expressed worries over how the Trump administration would impact the EV industry in the U.S. Those fears may have also caused some of those December highs, as the new president promised to eliminate the $7,500 EV tax credit.

Despite those threats, the credit still stands, even though Rho Motion notes that the requirements for the credit have narrowed.

Global trends

Compared to this January, when 1.3 million units were sold, roughly 1.07 million units were sold last year. S&P Global Mobility also expects that, despite this recent slump, the trend of growth will continue in 2025. It projects that sales will jump by 30% this year, accounting for nearly 17% of all global vehicle sales, a 4% increase from 2024.

However, the recent slowdown in EV sales globally has experts warning that it could lead to layoffs and plant closures, further complicating the future of EV adoption.