Leading research house Rho Motion has published its monthly global EV sales report, relaying that the industry saw a record amount of purchases in September. It should come as little surprise that EV powerhouse China led the world in the 1.7 million EVs sold around the world last month.
Rho Motion describes itself as a leading researcher in “actionable intelligence into electric vehicle and battery markets, associated technologies including motors and systems, charging and infrastructure, energy stationary storage, battery recycling, and the wider energy and renewables markets.”
The company was founded in 2018, but in 2024, it merged with Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, one of the fastest-growing businesses at scale for lithium, critical minerals, and energy transitions. Through its research, Rho Motion publishes a number of reports pertaining to the EV industry and adjacent technologies, including battery demand outlook, EV quarterly outlooks, and monthly sales data reports.
According to a company representative, Rho Motion’s data for its reports is gathered country by country from Governments, car associations, national statistics, OEMs, and trade data, and its team scrutinizes and checks it before compiling everything together to publish to the public.
Most recently, Rho Motion shared its global EV sales report for September 2024, which saw the most sales for any month ever and demonstrated encouraging year-over-year growth for EV adoption. We’ve broken down some key figures of the report for you below.
China’s BYD’s nine millionth NEV build was a Yangwang U9 / Source: BYD Auto
Global EV sales reach new high and continue to grow YOY
The full global EV sales report for September, available here, shows that tallies around the world reached a record 1.7 million. That’s 150,000 more EV purchases than the previous record achieved in December 2023.
Many outlets more distant from the true pulse of EVs have painted a grim picture for EV adoption as sales in certain markets have slowed down. However, the global outlook paints a much rosier image of the future and shows that it’s not necessarily EV sales that are slowing down but rather certain models from OEMs in particular markets.
For example, China, a bona fide leader in EV innovation and adoption, contributed a massive chunk of the global EV sales for September 2024, reporting 1.1 million units sold. That’s approximately 65% of all global sales. This was another record month for China, which previously achieved 1 million EV units sold in August 2024.
Chinese OEMs have also become some of the most aggressive in global expansion, especially in Europe, and have shown no signs of backing down from new markets despite hefty tariffs implemented on Chinese-built EV imports. Those tariffs are expected to take effect in November and last five years.
Per the report, just over 300,00 EVs were sold in EU & EFTA & UK in September, combining for 2.2 million units sold in 2024 so far. BEV sales increased were up 12% year-on-year, but PHEV sales were down 12% compared to September 2023. Norway continues to stand out with extremely high EV penetration rates, although market volume is currently down by 4% year-to-date. The German market, home to major marques like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen Group, has grown 7% year-over-year, but that market’s YTD sales are still down by 20%.
Across the pond, EV markets in the US & Canada market continue to grow at a steady pace, up 10% for 2024 as of September. Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester commented on the numbers from each continent and how they hint at the progress of global EV sales going forward:
This record-breaking month of EV sales brings new hope to the industry. 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, the regional disparities are astonishing, with China alone accounting for well over half the global total. Meanwhile, Europe’s numbers are shrinking, and the US and Canada are steadily growing.
As part of the report, Rho Motion also shared a snapshot of YTD global EV sales and compared them to the same timeframe from January to September 2023:
Global EV sales: 11.5 million, +22%
China: 7.2 million, +35%
EU & EFTA & UK: 2.2 million, -4%
USA & Canada: 1.3 million, +10%
Rest of World: 0.9 million, +25%
So, is EV adoption slowing down, or are certain markets not delivering new models at the price and features their local consumers want? Data doesn’t lie. EV adoption continues to snowball globally, and the recent lagging sales feel more like a speed bump than a true cause for worry.
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Just over a year after Uber announced a strategic partnership in the Middle East with autonomous vehicle specialist WeRide, the companies have officially begun offering the public robotaxi rides without a driver or safety operator present on board.
Today’s latest milestone involving robotaxi operations in the Middle East dates back to September 2024, when Uber and WeRide initially announced a strategic partnership to bring autonomous rides to the UAE.
Three months later, the partner officially launched autonomous rides in Abu Dhabi, but with a safety operator present in the vehicle. At the time, Uber and WeRide said the supervised rides were “laying the groundwork” for a true driverless commercial operations planned for 2025.
That day has come.
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WeRide and Uber have confirmed that commercial robotaxi operations are officially underway in Abu Dhabi without any safety operators on board – a first for the Middle East.
Source: Uber
Uber rolls out Middle East robotaxi operations in Abu Dhabi
Uber shared details of its latest milestone late this evening or in the afternoon in the Middle East, depending on where you are.
Beginning today (Wednesday) customers in Abu Dhabi can select an UberX or Uber Comfort ride that enables them to be matched with a fully autonomous WeRide robotaxi without a driver inside. Riders in the Middle East can also increase their chances of hailing one of these driverless rides by select the “Autonomous” option in the Uber app.
In order to qualify, the prosepctive rider’s route must be part of WeRide’s operating territory in Abu Dhabi and a dedicated WeRide GXR Robotaxi vehicle (seen in the featured image above) must be available.
Similar to Uber’s partnership with Waymo in Austin and Atlanta, the global rideshare network will oversee fleet operations for WeRide vehicles, handling end-to end rider support. It has tapped Tawasul Transport to facilitate vehicle cleaning, maintenance, inspections, charging, and depot management. WeRide will remain responsible for vehicle testing.
As you may recall last spring, Uber and WeRide announced an expansion to their strategic partnership beyond the Middle East (although Dubai will be the city for its next robotaxi rollout). Over the next five years, Uber and WeRide intend to deploy true driverless public rides in 15 additional cities, some of which will be in Europe.
As promised, here’s some b-roll footage from Uber showing how riders in Abu Dhabi can order a WeRide robotaxi:
Source: Uber
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Metro Detroit is about to get a big boost of fast EV chargers, with more than 40 new ChargePoint ports set to come online across multiple sites owned by the Dabaja Brothers Development Group.
The first ultra-fast charging site just opened in Canton, Michigan. It’s owned and operated by Dabaja Brothers, who plan to follow it with additional ChargePoint-equipped locations in Dearborn and Livonia.
“We started this project because we saw a gap in our community – there was almost nowhere to charge an EV in Canton, and a similar lack of charging across metro Detroit,” said Yousef Dabaja, owner/operator at Dabaja Brothers.
Each metro Detroit site will feature ChargePoint Express Plus fast charging stations, which can deliver up to 500 kW to a single port, can fast-charge two vehicles at the same time, and are compatible with all EVs. The stations feature a proprietary cooling system to deliver peak charging speeds for sustained periods, ensuring that charging speed remains consistent.
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The stations operate on the new ChargePoint Platform, which enables operators to monitor performance, adjust pricing, troubleshoot issues, and gain real-time insights to keep chargers running smoothly.
Rick Wilmer, CEO at ChargePoint, said, “This initiative will rapidly infill the ‘fast charging deserts’ across the Detroit area, allowing drivers to quickly recharge their vehicles when and where they need to.”
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Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging and Starbucks have officially opened their first DC fast charging hub together, off the I-5 in Red Bluff, California.
The 400 kW Mercedes-Benz chargers are capable of adding up to 300 miles in 10 minutes, depending on the EV, and every stall has both NACS and CCS cables – they’re fully open DC fast chargers.
Mercedes-Benz HPC North America, a joint venture between subsidiaries of Mercedes-Benz Group and renewable energy producer MN8 Energy, first announced in July 2024 that it would install DC fast chargers at Starbucks stores along Interstate 5, the main 1,400-mile north-south interstate highway on the US West Coast from Canada to Mexico. Ultimately, Mercedes plans to install fast chargers at 100 Starbucks stores across the US.
Mercedes-Benz HPC opened its first North American charging site at Mercedes-Benz USA’s headquarters in Sandy Springs, Georgia, in November 2023 as part of an initial $1 billion charging network investment. As of the end of 2024, Mercedes had deployed over 150 operational fast chargers in the US, but it hasn’t disclosed an official number of how many chargers are currently online.
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Andrew Cornelia, CEO of Mercedes-Benz HPC North America, is leaving the company at the end of the month to become global head of electrification & sustainability at Uber.
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