Global electric vehicle (EV) sales hit a record in September as the Chinese market continued to largely prop up the figures.
Some 1.7 million EVs were sold across the world over the month, topping the previous record set in December 2023 by 150,000 units, according to research house Rho Motion.
China accounted for the majority of this with 1.1 million sales, as 300,000 EVs were sold across the UK and Europe in comparison.
Though this marked a 12% increase year on year for Europe, the uptick failed to take sales over the nine months to September into positive territory against 2023.
Europe remained the only market in which sales have declined over the year so far as a result, with the figure down by 4% at 2.2 million, against a wider 22% jump globally to 11.5 million.
Sales across China ticked up 35% to 7.2 million in the meantime, followed by a 10% increase to 1.3 million in North America and 25% jump to 0.9 million elsewhere.
“This record-breaking month of EV sales brings new hope to the industry,” Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester commented.
“While the electrification of transport seems inevitable, the recent slowdown of sales in many parts of the world has sewn seeds of doubt which can now start to be swept aside.”
However, Lester noted the “regional disparities” in the figures were “astonishing,” given the rise in China but fall across Europe.
European manufacturers have struggled with lacklustre demand recently, leaving targets to phase out petrol and diesel cars by 2035 in doubt and calls for further support from governments.
Chinese firms have benefitted from state subsidies meanwhile, with the European Union passing rules to introduce tariffs on vehicles imported from the country earlier this month over fears of domestic producers being undercut on price.