What are the biggest electric car companies? As manufacturers scramble to electrify their lineup some of the biggest brands are falling behind.
Biggest Electric Car Companies
As consumers are understanding the advantages of owning an EV some of the bigger manufacturers like Ford and BMW are playing catch up. Let’s take a look at the 10 biggest electric car companies in the world.
10. Chery
Chinese state-owned Chery started manufacturing cars in 1997. They’ve been one of China’s top exporters of cars and are seeing an explosion of growth with its exportation of electric vehicles which they started manufacturing in 2017.
Alongside the successful eQ series the Omoda series is making an impact across international markets with the Omoda 5 compact crossover SUV. Chery’s city cars have also gained mass popularity including the Chery eQ1, Wujie Pro and Chery QQ Ice Cream.
9. R-N-M Alliance
The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance (R-N-M) is exactly what it sounds like – an alliance between the three big French and Japanese car manufacturers. The Alliance started in 1999 and achieves scale by jointly developing batteries and other key parts.
Its first electric car was the Mitsubishi i-MiEV in 2009. By far the most popular electric car from the R-N-M Alliance is the Nissan Leaf. In production since 2010 it was the highest selling electric vehicle worldwide up until 2019 and has been lauded for its relative affordability.
8. GAC
Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) was founded in 1955 and is one of the biggest electric car companies. The company started its EV division in 2018 and the Aion marque of GAC has become one of the largest sellers of electric cars in China. Its most popular models are the LX, V, and Y, with the LX having a range of more than 600 miles. The Aion Hyper SSR can also accelerate from 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) in under two seconds.
7. Stellantis
Stellantis is a huge American-Italian-French corporation formed in 2021 following the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group. The company is one of the biggest EV companies and includes brand such as Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Peugeot, Jeep and Fiat among many.
The company has invested tens of billions of dollars into building flexible EV platforms to build their cars on. In 2022 Stellantis shared their EV strategy Dare Forward 2030 with its blueprint outlining that all cars sold in Europe, and half of all sold in the US, are electric vehicles by 2030.
6. Hyundai Motor Group
Sister companies Hyundai and Kia have become one of the biggest electric car companies in the world and have adopted electrification of their vehicles before many of the other big manufacturers. Hyundai Motor Group continues to invest billions into EV development and should continue to climb the rankings of biggest electric car companies.
Hyundai EV models include the KONA and the much celebrated IONIQ marque, with the IONIQ 5 winning many accolades worldwide. Equally Kia has the Niro and the EV6, with the GT version of the latter offering supercar acceleration – 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) in 3.3 seconds.
5. Geely
Founded in 1986 Geely has fast become one of the biggest EV companies in the world. The company first started producing cars in 2002 and started diversifying into electric vehicles in 2008 with the Gleagle marque.
It wasn’t until 2019 that Geely heavily shifted it’s focus towards electric cars with the Geometry, Zeekr and Radar brands. Geely continues to grow at a rapid rate globally with its major brands including Geely Auto, Volvo, Polestar and Smart leading the way.
4. General Motors
General Motors was the largest car manufacturer globally for almost eight decades before Toyota took the top spot in 2008. In 1996 they were the first company in the world to mass-produce an electric vehicle with the General Motors EV1. Although GM moved the cars off the road, General Motors has since been electrifying its lineup with its Ultium platform since 2020 on its Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC and Buick lineups.
There are plans by General Motors to end the production of internal combustion engines and to produce only electric cars by 2035. Some of the most hotly anticipated EV models from GM are the GMC Sierra, GMC Hummer and Chevrolet Silverado.
3. VW Group
The Volkswagen Group has been one of the biggest manufacturers of cars in recent history but has fallen behind other manufacturers in the development of electric vehicles. The huge portfolio under the Volkswagen group including Audi, SEAT, Skoda, Volkswagen, Audi still means that the group is selling electric cars at scale.
Many of the Volkswagen Group’s marques have started the transition to electric models but it has meant that the brand has had to look to external partners to utilise their platforms as VW’s SSP (Scalable Systems Platform) won’t be ready for launch until 2026.
2. BYD
BYD is the second biggest electric car company in the world and is also a big player with electric buses. Founded in 1995 BYD is huge in the local Chinese market. The BYD Yuan was at one stage China’s best selling car and is making waves globally as the Atto 3.
The BYD Han is the company’s equivalent to Tesla’s Model S. The mid-sized Han can reach 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) from a standstill in under four seconds. With its affordability and innovation BYD could soon surpass Tesla as the biggest electric car company in the world.
1. Tesla
Tesla is the undisputed biggest electric car company in the world and is the world’s most valuable car manufacturer. The company has pioneered and revolutionized the EV industry and had gone from strength to strength after its first car in 2008, the Roadster.
The benchmark of the EV industry remains Tesla which has been building on their innovation, efficiency and relative affordability. The Model S sedan was released in 2021, the Model X SUV in 2015, the Model 3 in 2017 and the Model Y in 2020.
