The latest numbers released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) show that sales and production of plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) have increased by more than 40% in the first four months of 2023

After a shaky start to 2023 following the falling away of state-subsidies, it appears that the Chinese EV market has returned to 2022-levels of growth with April production and sales numbers more than double those in the same period in 2022.

Recent numbers released by some of the major EV manufacturers in China show a mixed picture. BYD, China’s biggest EV manufacturer, sold 209,000 EVs in April, a year-on-year increase of 98%. Sales have increased month-on-month through 2023 to recover to levels close to the monthly numbers achieved at the back-end of 2022. Tesla’s April deliveries of China-produced EVs fell back in April to just under 76,000, down 14.7% from March. Tesla initiated a series of price cuts in Q1 2023, but it appears that the competition has followed and local market conditions remain highly competitive.

It is also worth noting that recent numbers from Europe and the USA also point towards the continued build out of the EV market in 2023. April sales are not yet available, but March EV sales in Europe were up 27% year-on-year, reaching more than 300,000. Market leaders Tesla and VW both grew their European EV sales by more than 40% over the last year. The US EV market grew by 40% year-on-year in March, with market leader Tesla growing sales by 24%. Stellantis (owner of Chrysler and Jeep) remained in second place by EV passenger vehicle sales, posting year-on-year growth of 83%.

The last 6 months have seen a dramatically falling lithium spot price citing a weak demand outlook for EVs. However, March and April have seen EV sales growth numbers return to 2022 levels and the outlook for the rest of 2023 seems increasingly positive. China’s overall automotive sales and export numbers were also up in April, along with a plateauing of inventory numbers, which had crept up through the first three months of 2023. Project Blue’s projections for global EV sales in 2023 remain unchanged at 14.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 38%.