Average plug-in hybrid battery size up 22% in 2024

PHEVs capture 40% of Chinese market 

Given that China represents half of the global EV market, and to smooth out the impact of the lunar new year holiday on trading activity, Adamas aggregated battery capacity and EV registrations data for January and February to make a meaningful comparison year on year.  

During the first two months of 2024, just over 17.0 GWh of fresh battery capacity were deployed onto roads globally in newly sold plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), a striking 95% increase year-over-year.

The annual 2024 figure for PHEV power hours hitting roads is likely to soar past the 100 GWh bar, given the long-established pattern on electric car markets of accelerating sales during the latter, and especially the final, quarters of the year.  

And it’s not just PHEV unit sales growth driving the spike in associated battery capacity deployment – it’s rising unit sales combined with a steady increase in the average PHEV’s battery pack capacity, Adamas data shows. 

Overall, the sales-weighted average PHEV sold globally in January and February 2024 combined had a battery pack capacity of 23.0 kWh, 22% higher than a year ago.  

Battery power found in the average full electric vehicle (BEV) is also on the up, reaching 63.2 kWh over the first two months of the year, a 2% increase.  Notably, the average PHEV battery is now 36% of the size of a BEV battery.  

Conventional hybrid (HEV) battery sizes have also climbed slightly and now average around the 1.3 kWh mark, while across all EV types over January-February the average pack capacity was a respectable 33.1 kWh, up 3% year-over-year, despite PHEVs’ growing market share. 

In unit volume terms, PHEVs seized 25% of the global market during the first two months of 2024, up from 20% over the same period in 2023 thanks to unit shipments surging by 59% year on year (vs a lower 20% for BEVs).  

In China, sales of these best-of-both-worlds (or in some minds the worst) EVs approached half a million units in January-February, representing 40% of the domestic EV market during the same two months.  

Adamas take:

Cell and battery metal suppliers to the global EV market may well bemoan the rise of the plug-in hybrid and resultant negative impacts on average battery sizes and overall metals demand.  

For now, average pack capacities continue to rise across all EV types and soaring PHEV volumes are playing a big part in keeping the overall electric car market on the boil.