Electric Vehicles

Tesla sold quarter of all global electric vehicle market in 2020

Published by

The Driven

Tesla sold almost one quarter of all the electric vehicles worldwide in 2020, retaining its place as the global market leader, and will likely hold the upper hand for 2021.

Claiming 23% of the entire battery-electric car market, and 16% of the entire plug-in market (which includes battery electric vehicles – BEVs – and plug-in hybrids, or PHEVs), Tesla outdid fellow electric heavyweights Volkswagen and Chinese-owned SAIC on both fronts.

While Tesla only barely missed its own 2020 sales target of 500,000 in what was a challenging year for the auto market at large, it outsold both the challengers two-to-one according to figures compiled by EV Sales’

With its Model 3 now well established in domestic and overseas markets and output from its Shanghai factory a good 12 months into production, Tesla also released its Model Y electric crossover onto the local US market.

The results underline the stronghold Tesla continues to have on the global EV market without spending a cent on advertising, which other carmakers must now double-down on if they are to catch up (case in point: GM’s anti-Norway Super Bowl advertising campaign).

To read the full version of this story, please go to our EV-focussed sister site, The Driven and click here…

Bridie Schmidt is lead reporter for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She specialises in writing about new technology, and has a keen interest in the role that zero emissions transport has to play in sustainability.

Bridie Schmidt

Bridie Schmidt is lead reporter for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She specialises in writing about new technology, and has a keen interest in the role that zero emissions transport has to play in sustainability.

Share
Published by

Recent Posts

One ship loaded with solar PV is now worth more to the grid than 120 coal-carriers

Technology gains mean that one ship load of solar PV panels is now worth more…

16 January 2026

Owner of Australia’s biggest wind farm seeks green tick for huge wind and battery project in Queensland

Owner of Australia's biggest wind farm seeks green tick for another big wind project with…

16 January 2026

Fortescue buys US battery tech to boost storage needs as it sets sail on eliminating fossil fuels in five years

Fortescue buys US battery controls company as it ramps up efforts to reach real zero…

15 January 2026

Hydro Tasmania’s first pumped hydro project back in the EPBC after expansion

The Cethana project has been on the drawing board as a Battery of the Nation…

15 January 2026

Australian households add record amounts of rooftop PV, as home battery installations top 4.3 GWh

Rooftop PV enjoys record month of installations at the end of 2025, as the home…

15 January 2026

British wind farms drive down day-ahead wholesale energy prices by almost a third in 2025

British wind farms helped limit the role of gas power plants in setting prices, cutting…

15 January 2026