AlixPartners credits EV sales growth, efficiency for record E-range of 1.2 billion miles in 2021

The e-range metric is useful for measuring how many miles driven in internal-combustion engine vehicles have been replaced by those driven in EVs, said Mark Wakefield, global co-leader of the automotive practice at AlixPartners.

Automakers are investing billions of dollars in EV development and production as they look to meet sales mandates set by governments worldwide.

“One of the reasons we do it this way is to show a truer version” of EV adoption worldwide, Wakefield said. “You’ve got some very small-range city cars, and that’s just not the same as a 400-mile Tesla or something like that in terms of its true replaceability of a combustion-engine vehicle.”

The growth of global e-range in part reflects the acceleration of BEV adoption. According to AlixPartners, about 75 percent of the 2.2 million EVs sold in the fourth quarter of 2021 were BEVs, while the share of PHEVs among electric vehicle sales fell to about 22 percent. BEVs have more electric range than plug-in hybrids, and that gap continues to grow as BEVs become more efficient.

Tesla Inc. led all automakers in total e-range sold, with 99.1 million miles in the fourth quarter of 2021, AlixPartners said. Chinese automaker BYD followed, with 55.9 million miles, followed by Volkswagen (34.6 million miles), Hyundai (26.6 million miles) and Geely (18.1 million miles).

China led the way in electric growth globally, with e-range nationwide roughly doubling in 2021 compared with 2020, according to the consulting firm. China accounted for a majority of the world’s e-range last year, AlixPartners said.