Electric vehicles are coming off a record year, but remain very far from the mainstream

Electric vehicles are on the up, but it’s all relative.

According to a report released this week by the International Energy Agency, the total number of electric cars on roads around the world surpassed two million in 2016. More than 750,000 of those registrations came last year, continuing a trend of steady global growth, largely off the back of continued EV adoption in China.

But while more is better, electric vehicles remain a small niche. As this chart from Statista shows, those EV registrations only made up around one percent of the total market. The IEA says that two-million figure only represented 0.2% of the light-duty vehicles on the road last year.

That’s not great, but on the flip side, it means there’s still plenty of room for growth. That should be easier as electric vehicles continue to get better and more affordable.

Mike Nudelman/Business Insider/Statista

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