Electric car use by country

This article describes the use, market penetration and market share of new car sales of electric cars by country. It also provides historical background, fleet size, existing government incentives, and deployment details by country. The article encompasses both low-speed neighborhood electric vehicle (NEVs) and highway-capable all-electric cars (BEVs). Several countries publish their statistics and have purchase incentives schemes in place for the more general category of plug-in electric cars (PEVs), which includes also plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are not included because they can not be plugged and recharged from an off-vehicle electric energy source.As of December 2014, more than 712,000 highway-capable plug-in electric passenger cars and utility vans have been sold worldwide. The United States is the leading market with a stock of over 290,000 plug-in electric cars sold since 2008, representing 41% of global sales. Japan ranks second with over 108,000 units sold since 2009 (15%), followed by China with over 83,000 plug-in electric passenger cars sold since 2008 (12%).Norway is the country with the highest market penetration per capita in the world, also the country with the largest plug-in electric segment market share of new car sales, and in March 2014 Norway became the first country where over 1 in every 100 passenger cars on the roads is a plug-in electric vehicle. Estonia, which has the second largest EV market penetration per capita after Norway, is the first country that completed the deployment of an EV charging network with nationwide coverage, with fast chargers available along highways at a minimum distance of between 40 to 60 km (25 to 37 mi).