Carmakers Used the Super Bowl to Popularize EVs
Carmakers are working hard to make electric vehicles around the world. They are using various methods to attract customers who are willing to buy electric vehicles. This year, six out of seven car brands that ran an ad during the Super Bowl featured such vehicles.
For example, the start-up Polestar featured its Polestar 2, while GM’s corporate brand advertised several EVs. Polestar used its first-ever Super Bowl ad to indirectly take shots at its rivals, including Tesla and Volkswagen. The company’s ad called “No Compromises” is simple and to the point.
Other carmakers pushing electric cars included Nissan, Kia, Toyota, GM’s Chevy as well as BMW.
Those ad dollars are a sign there the auto industry is going, but don’t reflect where car sales stand at the moment: Only 9% of total global passenger car sales were electric vehicles.
Carmakers and main findings
In 2021, carmakers sold 6.5 million EVs worldwide, according to new research published on Monday by market research company Canalys. That figure includes fully electric as well as plug-in hybrid passenger cars and represents 109% growth over 2020.
Last year, the total global passenger car market rose 4%. So, the electric car market is growing more than 25 times the pace of the car market overall, nevertheless, it is still only a small piece of the total.
Electric vehicles are quite popular in China. Out of the 6.5 million electric vehicles, customers in China bought 3.2 million electric vehicles. People in Europe are also willing to buy such cars. In 2021, companies sold 2.3 electric vehicles in Europe.
The world’s largest economy is a much smaller market for electric vehicles, in comparison. In 2021, only 535,000 cars, representing about 4% of new cars sold in the United States, were electric.
