Combustion engine car sales have already peaked, data shows

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Global sales of combustion engine cars appear to have already peaked, according to recently released figures.

Data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and OurWorldinData show that non-electric car sales hit a record high of 83.7 million in 2018 and have been in decline ever since.

Electric cars made up 18 per cent of all new cars sold worldwide in 2023, up from 14 per cent the year before.

Between 2018 and 2023, global sales of combustion engine cars fell by a quarter from 83.7m to 62.8m.

The data also appears to show that total car sales are also experiencing a general decline in recent years.

The country that has the highest proportion of electric cars is Norway, having heavily subsidised the industry.

More than nine out of 10 new vehicles sold in the Nordic country are electric, compared to just 20 per cent in the UK.

A report released in December by motoring marketplace Auto Trader projected that the number of polluting cars on British roads will tumble by more than 40 per cent over the next decade as a result of a “seismic shift” towards EVs.

The latest IEA figures show that China has been the biggest driver of electric car adoption worldwide, with more than 20 million battery-powered cars now on the road.

The electrification trend follows a broader shift towards cleaner energy sources like nuclear and renewables.

Research published last year found that the falling costs of batteries and other renewable technologies have supercharged the transition away from fossil fuels in recent years.

Calculations by Berlin-based Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) suggested that fossil fuel-generated power will soon no longer be economically viable.

“The world’s entire energy consumption in 2050 could be completely and cost-effectively covered by solar technology and other renewables,” said Felix Creutzig, who led the research.

Separate research from energy analytics firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence found that the cost of EV batteries had crossed a “tipping point” that makes manufacturing them cheaper than fossil fuel-burning vehicles.