**2. Current Situation in Global Markets**

According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), sales of various electric vehicles amounted to three million in 2020. Currently, China has the largest electric vehicle market, boasting 1.29 million EVs sold in 2020, which is an 8.3% year-over-year increase and constitutes as much as 40.5% of global sales in 2020 (Figure 2) [12].

**Figure 2.** EV sales' share among cars worldwide, 2010–2020. Source: https://www.iea.org/articles/global-ev-data-explorer (accessed on 10 October 2021).

> By the end of 2020, a total of 10 million electric cars had been registered worldwide. In 2020, electric car registrations increased by 41%, despite a pandemic-related worldwide decline in car sales, which saw global car sales drop by 16% [2].

> It should be noted that in 2020 electric cars were reported to account for 4.61% of total passenger car sales globally. This was, however, mainly thanks to the European market (in Europe, the share of electric vehicles in new car sales in 2020 was 10%); in Norway the share in vehicle sales reached a record value of 75%, that is about 30% more than in 2019 [13]. High shares of electric car sales were also recorded in Iceland (50%), Sweden (30%) and the Netherlands (25%) (Figure 3) [2].

**Figure 3.** Top ten markets for electric vehicles by unit sales in 2020. Source: https://www.iea.org/articles/global-ev-dataexplorer (accessed on 10 October 2021).

Outside China, it is Europe and the USA that account for the largest sales volume. Among the top 10 electric car consuming countries in 2020, there was only one Asian country, i.e., South Korea. Interestingly, in 2020, the European conventional vehicle market saw sales decline by 22%. Yet electric car registrations more than doubled to 1.4 million. This means that the electric car market was clearly immune to the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, the highest sales volume in Europe was recorded in countries such as Germany, France, Great Britain, and Norway. For years, Norway had occupied first place; however, due to the rapid increase in the number of electric vehicles in the country in recent years, the Norwegian market has saturated and demand has decreased (Figure 4) [2,13].

**Figure 4.** Global electric vehicle sales: market share in 2030 (forecast). Source: https://www.ubs.com/global/en/asset-ma nagement/insights/emerging-markets/2021/electric-vehicles-asia-investing.html (accessed on 10 October 2021).

> China is projected to become the worldwide largest electric vehicle market by 2030, based on IEA forecasts of annual sales of 9.61 million of EV. It should be noted that the forecasts do not cover regions such as South America, Africa, and other Asian countries (Figure 5) [14].

**Figure 5.** Electric car models available globally and average range, 2015–2020. Source: https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/ assets/ed5f4484-f556-4110-8c5c-4ede8bcba637/GlobalEVOutlook2021.pdf (accessed on 10 October 2021).

It should also be emphasised that electric vehicle sales continue to grow even in the face of the pandemic due to three key factors [15–17]:


Not without significance is the last abovementioned factor, namely the growing number of available models and increasing vehicle range [18]. Until a few years ago, the range of an electric vehicle (BEV) oscillated around 200 km, which made such a car unsuitable outside a city. Now that the average range of this type of vehicle has increased significantly, it positively affects decisions on the purchase of this type of car. In addition, potential buyers also have the option to choose from a growing number of models offered [19].

For the promotion of electric vehicle deployment policy, it is also important that these cars are considered environmentally-friendly. Below is a graph showing the overall environmental benefits of introducing electric cars.

It should be noted that with each passing year the amount of conventional fuel saved increases but so too does the demand for electricity needed to charge the cars. At this point, it should be stressed that for an electric car deployment policy to be considered ecological, it is also necessary to obtain electricity from renewable or low-emission energy sources. Otherwise, electric cars cannot be considered fully zero-emission and environmentally friendly (Figure 6) [20].

**Figure 6.** Electricity demand vs. oil displacement among cars, worldwide between 2015 and 2020. Source: https://www.iea. org/articles/global-ev-data-explorer (accessed on 10 October 2021).

#### **3. Analysis of the Situation in Selected Southeast Asian Countries**

As mentioned before, there are several key countries in the global electric car market at present. Some countries have achieved high sales volume through extensive policy to support vehicle purchase and maintenance (e.g., government subsidies, tax incentives, as well as participation in the construction and upkeep of a publicly accessible electric car charging infrastructure) [8]. It should be noted, however, that a number of countries are not even mentioned in multiple reports and statistics because of negligible or virtually nonexistent sales of electric vehicles (often not exceeding even a 0.1% share in total car sales) [21].

Currently and, as forecasts assume, also in the near future, China will remain the world leader in electric vehicle sales. In Asia, however, unlike in Europe, there are no strong international organizations that would firmly harmonize individual economic processes. Nevertheless, individual countries of Southeast Asia see both bottom-up and group processes for implementing policy to promote electric vehicles [22].

The largest organization of Southeast Asian countries is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Currently, the group comprises 10 countries—Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand (founding members—1961), Brunei (since 8 January 1984), Vietnam (since 28 July 1995), Laos and Myanmar (since 23 July 1997), and Cambodia (since 30 April 1999) [23]. Interest in electric vehicles among the ASEAN countries is growing. However, there is a shortage of accurate statistics related to electric car sales [24]. According to the ASEAN Automotive Federation, a specialized agency that analyses the automotive market, in 2019, the total volume of electric vehicle sales in ASEAN member states was 3.4 million in 2019. However, this number includes HEVs, which are not analysed in this article. Some of the member states have attempted to define desired directions for the development of the electric car market. In the following discussion, the authors of this study present the current and planned achievements in the deployment of electric cars in selected ASEAN countries, as well as in some countries that have also prepared specific policies in this area [25].

When analysing the current situation of the electric vehicle market in selected ASEAN countries, it should be noted that, firstly, access to data is significantly limited, and secondly, market development is at a very early stage (Table 1).


**Table 1.** Sales volume in selected ASEAN countries and countries of the region.

\* Limited access to data from Malaysia, which may mean that it is not accurate between 2017 and 2020. Source: https://www.marklines.co m/en/vehicle\_sales/search\_country/search/?searchID=1701312 (accessed on 4 November 2021).

> As can be seen from the presented data, the highest sales have been recorded in countries such as Japan and Korea (and Thailand from ASEAN countries), the lowest in Philippines and Indonesia [26].

> Due to limitations in access to data, the authors decided to present countries not belonging to the ASEAN group, such as India, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan, since these are countries from the same region characterized by a similar level of development. Therefore, comparisons can be made to a limited extent.

> It is thus worth noting that ASEAN, as an organization promoting cooperation in the region, can build common policies for supporting and promoting the purchase of electric vehicles, taking advantage of the common competitive advantage and the synergy effect.

> In addition, in most of the ASEAN countries, consumers tend to choose alternative versions of vehicles such as two-, and three-wheeled units that are not listed as a typical electric car (Table 2).

> ASEAN countries have different levels of wealth, calculated as nominal GDP and GDP per capita. The level of the most important economic indicator characterizing the level of wealth of a country and its citizens has a significant impact on consumer decisions, including the decision to buy an electric vehicle, which is usually more expensive than a traditional vehicle. The fact that wealth is extremely differentiated in the analysed countries will also undoubtedly affect the tendency of individual consumers to purchase an electric

vehicle. It should be assumed that in countries where GDP per capita is low (Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos), the propensity to buy an electric vehicle will be much lower than in countries with high GDP per capita (Singapore, Brunei, and Malaysia). Such inference may be an oversimplification, and the decision to purchase an electric vehicle will be influenced by a number of other factors, which are analysed below [27].

**Country Population in Million GDP Nominal (Millions of USD) GDP Nominal (per Capita USD)** 1 Indonesia 272.270 1,158,783 4256 2 Thailand 69.947 538,735 7702 3 Philippines 110.432 402,638 3646 4 Malaysia 33.358 387,093 11,604 5 Singapore 5.840 374,394 64,103 6 Vietnam 98.328 354,868 3609 7 Myanmar 53.545 76,195 1423 8 Cambodia 15.836 27,239 1720 9 Laos 7.371 2044 2773 10 Brunei 0.461 15,278 33,097 ASEAN in total 667.393 3,355,655 4849

**Table 2.** GDP and GDP per capita in ASEAN countries in 2020.

Source: World Economic Outlook database: April 2021, International Monetary Fund. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weodatabase/2021/April/weo-report (accessed on 1 November 2021).
