Between 2021 and 2023, global car brands announced a total of €265 billion in investments toward electric vehicles, batteries, and charging technology. For many automakers, these plans were made assuming that battery electric vehicles (BEVs) would supplant hybrid and pure-combustion cars.
But hybrids aren’t being supplanted by BEVs—in fact, they’re thriving as a category. According to the International Energy Agency, global BEV sales achieved an impressive 13.7% growth rate in 2024, to 10.8 million units worldwide. At the same time, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) sales rose by a colossal 54.8%, to 6.5 million units.
