That dollar amount results from a 298.8% acceleration compared to $25.9 billion five years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, the overall value of exported electric cars grew by 61% from $93.5 billion for 2022.
Baselined against the $959.5 billion in overall international sales for all types of cars in 2023, electric cars represent 15.7% of global revenues from exported cars. The most recent percentage of electric cars is a strong increase from the 3.4% share for 2019.
The 5 biggest exporters of electric cars are Germany, mainland China, Belgium, South Korea then the United States of America. Collectively, those 5 leaders in exporting electric cars generated over three-quarters (78%) of electric car global sales in 2023.
Among continents, suppliers in European countries sold the most exported electric cars during 2023 with shipments valued at $85.6 billion or 56.9% of the world total. In second place were Asian exporters at 37.5% while another 5.5% of the international sales for electric cars originated from shippers in North America.
Tinier percentages came from exporters in Africa (0.13%), Australia in Oceania (0.01%), and Latin America (0.002%) excluding Mexico.
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 870380 for motor vehicles powered by electric motor only (also called electric smart cars). This is a relatively new HTS code since 2017 is the first year for which trade data specific to electric cars was available.
Top Electric Cars Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of electric cars during 2023.
- Germany: US$40.1 billion (26.6% of exported electric cars)
- mainland China: $34.1 billion (22.7%)
- Belgium: $18 billion (11.9%)
- South Korea: $14.3 billion (9.5%)
- Japan: $7.7 billion (5.1%)
- United States: $7.26 billion (4.8%)
- Spain: $5.21 billion (3.5%)
- Czech Republic: $4.7 billion (3.1%)
- United Kingdom: $3.7 billion (2.5%)
- France: $3 billion (2%)
- Italy: $2.6 billion (1.7%)
- Hungary: $2.1 billion (1.4%)
- Slovakia: $2 billion (1.3%)
- Austria: $1.1 billion (0.7%)
- Netherlands: $1 billion (0.7%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 97.5% of globally exported electric cars in 2023.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of electric cars since 2022 were: Japan (up 246%), Netherlands (up 244.5%), United Kingdom (up 101.8%) and Hungary (up 98.1%).
Those countries that posted the most modest gains in their international sales of electric cars were France (up 19.5% from 2022), Slovakia (up 24%) and the United States of America (up 25.5%).
Searchable List of Exporters for Electric Cars in 2023
The following automated database presents the 99 countries (up from 98 one year earlier) that exported electric cars during 2023, ranked by international sales in 2023.
| Rank | Exporter | Electric Cars Exports | 2022-3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Germany | $40,079,843,000 | +51.9% |
| 2. | mainland China | $34,131,796,000 | +69.9% |
| 3. | Belgium | $17,973,246,000 | +43.3% |
| 4. | South Korea | $14,334,772,000 | +75.3% |
| 5. | Japan | $7,665,930,000 | +246% |
| 6. | United States | $7,258,070,000 | +25.5% |
| 7. | Spain | $5,208,631,000 | +32.2% |
| 8. | Czech Republic | $4,712,854,000 | +62.6% |
| 9. | United Kingdom | $3,743,319,000 | +101.8% |
| 10. | France | $2,983,497,000 | +19.5% |
| 11. | Italy | $2,595,007,000 | +51.1% |
| 12. | Hungary | $2,124,301,000 | +98.1% |
| 13. | Slovakia | $1,969,588,000 | +24% |
| 14. | Austria | $1,057,831,000 | +65.4% |
| 15. | Netherlands | $1,035,085,000 | +244.5% |
| 16. | Mexico | $993,489,000 | +626.5% |
| 17. | Poland | $880,031,000 | +538.5% |
| 18. | Slovenia | $384,822,000 | -26.8% |
| 19. | Sweden | $292,356,000 | +122.1% |
| 20. | Morocco | $197,066,000 | +101% |
| 21. | Norway | $161,317,000 | +192.6% |
| 22. | Vietnam | $119,678,000 | +25.4% |
| 23. | Denmark | $92,317,000 | -11.2% |
| 24. | Lithuania | $68,180,000 | +60% |
| 25. | India | $59,669,000 | +82.8% |
| 26. | Estonia | $55,310,000 | +125.9% |
| 27. | Hong Kong | $54,230,000 | -37.2% |
| 28. | Luxembourg | $47,319,000 | +72.5% |
| 29. | Latvia | $42,296,000 | +120.8% |
| 30. | Romania | $30,070,000 | +189.3% |
| 31. | Canada | $26,406,000 | +102.6% |
| 32. | Finland | $25,750,000 | +41.7% |
| 33. | Croatia | $20,697,000 | +190.4% |
| 34. | Jordan | $19,848,000 | +103.5% |
| 35. | Singapore | $16,399,000 | +470% |
| 36. | Indonesia | $15,417,000 | +3597% |
| 37. | Switzerland | $14,480,000 | +39.9% |
| 38. | Türkiye | $12,349,000 | +139.3% |
| 39. | Malaysia | $10,521,000 | +1475% |
| 40. | Serbia | $9,158,000 | +656.9% |
| 41. | Kyrgyzstan | $8,658,000 | +2865% |
| 42. | Australia | $8,377,000 | +145.2% |
| 43. | Armenia | $7,401,000 | +163.2% |
| 44. | Thailand | $6,873,000 | +190% |
| 45. | Portugal | $6,490,000 | +626% |
| 46. | Greece | $6,289,000 | +112.3% |
| 47. | Bulgaria | $5,605,000 | +83.4% |
| 48. | Israel | $3,816,000 | +177.3% |
| 49. | Ireland | $2,437,000 | +1156% |
| 50. | United Arab Emirates | $2,284,000 | -98.9% |
| 51. | Ukraine | $2,043,000 | -8.8% |
| 52. | Kazakhstan | $1,820,000 | +137.9% |
| 53. | Brazil | $1,592,000 | +1402% |
| 54. | South Africa | $1,304,000 | +307.5% |
| 55. | Azerbaijan | $1,299,000 | +573.1% |
| 56. | Macao | $1,217,000 | +164% |
| 57. | Chile | $1,051,000 | +31.5% |
| 58. | Moldova | $789,000 | -37.3% |
| 59. | Uzbekistan | $668,000 | +112.1% |
| 60. | Saudi Arabia | $513,000 | +216.7% |
| 61. | Russia | $510,000 | -49.7% |
| 62. | Bahrain | $475,000 | 0% |
| 63. | Taiwan | $391,000 | -21.6% |
| 64. | Mauritius | $362,000 | 0% |
| 65. | Panama | $344,000 | -21.5% |
| 66. | North Korea | $331,000 | +78% |
| 67. | Bahamas | $304,000 | +143.2% |
| 68. | Greenland | $254,000 | 0% |
| 69. | Iceland | $234,000 | -13.3% |
| 70. | Andorra | $215,000 | -56.5% |
| 71. | Montenegro | $201,000 | -36.4% |
| 72. | Pakistan | $166,000 | -25.9% |
| 73. | El Salvador | $161,000 | +1242% |
| 74. | Kenya | $154,000 | 0% |
| 75. | Malta | $148,000 | 0% |
| 76. | Oman | $135,000 | -97% |
| 77. | US Minor Outlying Is | $115,000 | 0% |
| 78. | Guatemala | $91,000 | -57.9% |
| 79. | Sri Lanka | $72,000 | 0% |
| 80. | Philippines | $64,000 | +60% |
| 81. | Bolivia | $61,000 | -15.3% |
| 82. | Barbados | $59,000 | -79.1% |
| 83. | Egypt | $59,000 | 0% |
| 84. | Cameroon | $50,000 | 0% |
| 85. | Iran | $42,000 | 0% |
| 86. | Faroe Islands | $33,000 | 0% |
| 87. | North Macedonia | $32,000 | -17.9% |
| 88. | Colombia | $24,000 | -95.5% |
| 89. | Costa Rica | $20,000 | -62.3% |
| 90. | Mongolia | $19,000 | -9.5% |
| 91. | St Vincent/Grenadines | $17,000 | 0% |
| 92. | Qatar | $16,000 | 0% |
| 93. | Curaçao | $14,000 | -71.4% |
| 94. | Benin | $14,000 | 0% |
| 95. | Ecuador | $12,000 | -75% |
| 96. | Cambodia | $4,000 | -89.5% |
| 97. | Bonaire/St Eustatius/Saba | $4,000 | 0% |
| 98. | Belarus | $1,000 | 0% |
| 99. | Albania | $1,000 | 0% |
Focusing on the full set of exporters, the fastest-growing suppliers of electric cars were Indonesia (up 3,597% from 2022), Kyrgyzstan (up 2,865%), Malaysia (up 1,475%), Brazil (up 1,402%), El Salvador (up 1,242%) and Ireland (up 1,156%).
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the above table’s columns.
An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2022 data was unavailable.
Countries Earning Largest Trade Surpluses from Electric Cars
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for electric cars during 2023. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s exported electric cars and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- mainland China: US$31.9 billion (net export surplus up 71.1% since 2022)
- Germany: $24.7 billion (up 61.3%)
- South Korea: $12 billion (up 93.2%)
- Japan: $5.9 billion (up 375.8%)
- Belgium: $4.8 billion (up 9.9%)
- Czech Republic: $4.4 billion (up 59.4%)
- Hungary: $1.7 billion (up 94.2%)
- Slovakia: $1.7 billion (up 16.4%)
- Mexico: $505.4 million (reversing a -$65.2 million deficit)
- Spain: $427.5 million (down -75.5%)
- Slovenia: $164.4 million (down -55.4%)
- Morocco: $157 million (up 84.1%)
- Vietnam: $34.2 million (down -61.5%)
- Serbia: $1.7 million (reversing a -$3 million deficit)
- North Korea: $331,000 (up 78%)
Mainland China generated the highest surplus in the international trade of electric cars. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms China’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Countries Facing Worst Trade Deficits from Electric Cars
The following countries incurred the highest negative net exports for electric cars during 2023. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s imported electric cars purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$11.7 billion (net export deficit up 137.9% since 2022)
- United Kingdom: -$11.1 billion (up 23.8%)
- France: -$7.2 billion (up 134.8%)
- Canada: -$6.4 billion (up 27.4%)
- Norway: -$4.9 billion (down -30.1%)
- Sweden: -$4.8 billion (up 33%)
- Australia: -$3.6 billion (up 138.5%)
- Netherlands: -$3.5 billion (up 61.9%)
- Denmark: -$3.2 billion (up 102.6%)
- Switzerland: -$3 billion (up 47.4%)
- Thailand: -$2.7 billion (up 482.1%)
- Türkiye: -$2.6 billion (up 347.5%)
- Israel: -$2.1 billion (up 44.8%)
- Finland: -$1.7 billion (up 81.6%)
- Portugal: -$1.6 billion (up 120.4%)
The United States of America and United Kingdom recorded the highest deficits in the international trade of electric cars. These negative cashflows highlight both countries’ apparent competitive disadvantages for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for suppliers of electric cars to better meet the growing consumer demand for more environmentally friendly products.
Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles
Below are major global automobile makers with facilities for producing electric plug-in cars or hybrid vehicles. Shown within parenthesis is the country where each corporation has its headquarters.
- BMW i (Germany)
- BYD Auto Co. (China)
- Daimler AG (Germany)
- Ford Motor Company (United States)
- General Motors (United States)
- Nissan (Japan)
- PSA Group (France)
- Renault (France)
- Rimac Automobili (Croatia)
- Tesla (United States)
- Toyota (Japan)
- Volkswagen Group (Germany)
See also Electric Cars Imports by Country, Cars Exports by Country, Cars Imports by Country and US Exported & Imported Cars by State
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on August 3, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on August 3, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 3, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 3, 2024
Wikipedia, Electric vehicle manufacturers. Accessed on August 3, 2024