EV Car Sales In India Reached 1Mn With 70% YoY Growth

EV Cars Sales In India Reached 1Mn With 70% YoY Growth: IEA

International Energy Agency (IEA) in its recent report on Global Critical Mineral Outlook 2024, found a global rise in electric vehicle sales. The report found a global increase in the sale of total electric car sales in India by 70% with an increase in electric car sales reaching almost 1 million.

The IEA report found, that within this India experienced 70% year-on-year growth, with sales of 80 000 vehicles, compared with just 10% growth for total car sales. Whereas, in Southeast Asia, the report found that in countries like Thailand electric cars witnessed an increase in sales by more than fourfold. It reached about 90,000 vehicles and a 10% market share it witnessed a particularly impressive achievement given that total car sales decreased from 2022 to 2023. The study associated an increase in subsidy in both regions facilitated demand growth though India is anticipated to reduce subsidy levels in 2024.

The critical mineral use in electric vehicles is spread across sectors such as, “Our assessment of mineral demand in the clean energy sector includes demand for low-emissions power generation (solar PV, wind, hydro, nuclear and other renewables), electric vehicle batteries and battery storage, grid networks (transmission, distribution, and transformer), and hydrogen (fuel cells and electrolyzer) technologies.”

IEA study showed that within critical minerals, the demand for refined copper increased by 2.7% in 2023, up from 0.9% in 2022. The report associated that increase in demand to be driven by growing consumption in China and India. Whereas, the demand in other regions registered a modest decline. The report elaborated, “The growth in China was predominantly underpinned by copper uses in construction and electricity networks, a trend expected to persist in the coming years. Indications from China’s ‘Two Sessions’ meeting in March 2024 signal a continued emphasis on expanding copper usage, particularly in renewable energy and grid expansion.”

Discussing the growth of natural graphite mining, the study showed that this market is dominated by China, accounting for 80% of global production. The study clarified that in the base case, the expected supply outside of China falls significantly short of these material requirements. Whereas, it evaluated and found that the projects in the early stage, not included in the base case, could narrow the gap somewhat. It found that projects such as those in the United States, Korea, Saudi Arabia, India, Norway, and Finland, anticipated supply may not be sufficient to meet the requirements. It associated this decline with increased competition from incumbent players such as China, which may require strategic and coordinated support from governments.

Critical Mineral Use In EVs

IEA report showed that with a varied use of critical minerals in renewable energy technology, its application has become the main driver of demand growth for a range of critical minerals. It mentioned, “Electric vehicles (EVs) consolidated their position as the largest-consuming segment for lithium, and increased their share considerably in the demand for nickel, cobalt, and graphite.”

The study showed an increase in demand growth, “It experienced a strong growth in 2023, with lithium demand rising by 30%. Whereas, the critical mineral use in an electric vehicle is projected to increase with the rise in demand for nickel, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements that increased from 8% to 15%.”
The report positioned China as one of the world’s largest electric car markets, it mentioned, “With 8.1 million electric car sales and 60% of the global total in 2023. Its market share has been increasing, up from 50% five years earlier in 2018. In 2023 more than one in three new car registrations in China was electric.”

The study reported a decline in the growth rate of electric car sales in China which dipped to more than halved in 2023 to 35% from 80% in 2022. The study gave one of the critical reasons for this is that 2023 be a lack of support from government subsidy. It said, “For the first year that the government provided no purchase subsidies for electric cars, with their phase-out in 2022. Therefore, a slowdown in electric car sales was expected. This is also coupled with relatively weak consumer sentiment.”