Hybrid and pure electric vehicles market to reach $334 Billion by 2023

The top ten hybrid and pure electric vehicle manufacturers is an unusual list. Toyota tops this list with EV sales that dwarf those of its next nine competitors put together: it is world's top suppplier of electric forklifts and hybrid cars and is also near the top with its electric buses. Heavy R&D investment cross fertilises the technologies in these sectors, while Toshiba widens its portfolio - it's most recent example is a variant on an electric motorbike. At the other end of the list we see little known names such as Kion Industries and Jungheinrich due to their pure electric and hybrid forklifts.

Dr Peter Harrop, Chairman of IDTechEx, commented: "Companies entering the top ten over the coming decade will be ones with a broad approach and/or backing the next winners such as Yutong in the Chinese e-bus market, since China will buy over 80% of the world's e-buses."

IDTechEx' predictions for the future of this market are a result of the unique report: Electric Vehicle Forecasts, Trends and Opportunities 2014-2024. This provides information essential for those seeking to dominate niches or volume sales of electric vehicles by making either the vehicles themselves or their components. This report gives the unit numbers, average vehicle prices, and total value for ten years for hybrid cars, pure electric cars, heavy industrial, buses, lighting industrial/commercial, microEV/quadricycle, golf car and motorised gold caddy, mobility for the disabled, two-wheel and allied, and military.

Ex-factory value of EVs, in 2024, by applicational sector

The technologies and components in the vehicles, as well as the vehicles themselves, are radically changing: supercapacitors can replace traction batteries; SiC and GaN power components will partly replace silicon ones; and multiple energy harvesting will become commonplace. The pure electric market is also set to improve with pure electric buses becoming more popular than hybrid ones. By the end of the decade, IDTechEx predicts that pure electric cars will take off in sales as the range improves by up to five times (not just due to improvements in batteries) and the cost becomes acceptable for mass use. They also foresee a large market for small electric aircraft and robot lawnmowers around the same time.

There is a new sector gaining rapid traction: MicroEVs/quadricycles which are not homologated as cars so they are simpler and much lower in cost. This could be a very fast growing sectors since it is aimed at massive markets such as electrifying the 3.2 million highly polluting three-wheeled taxis in the Philippines.