The market for electric vehicles has been expanding in recent years.

Some people considering a new business may be actively gathering information on the latest market trends, such as the future prospects for the spread of electric vehicles and the size of the market.

We have developed the largest business information service in Japan, and introduce the procedure for researching this ‘electric vehicle (EV) market’.

According to the Next Generation Vehicle Promotion Centre, the number of electric vehicles (EVs) in Japan in 2022 will be approximately 228,000. Furthermore, the number of new energy vehicles, including electric vehicles (EVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs) and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), in Japan in FY2022 will be approximately 443,000, with growth of around 10%.

The European Union’s environmental policy banning the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles, including hybrids, in 2035 is expected to lead to a global shift to electric vehicles (EVs) in the future.

There are four ways to find out important market information on electric vehicles (EVs), such as market size, company shares and forecasts: 1) from open information on the internet, 2) from statistical information, 3) from specialist industry information, and 4) by requesting new research from market research companies.

The first reliable source of information is national statistics. Secondly, information from trade associations of which companies in the industry are members. If the relevant statistics are available, information on the size of the market can be obtained there. Search for industry associations or relevant government websites on the Internet or other sources using keywords such as automobile, electric vehicle or EV, and check if there is statistical information available, and if there is information on electric vehicles among these.

For automobile statistics, there are the number of vehicles owned by the Automobile Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) and the Dynamic Production Statistics of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), but as plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHV) and electric vehicles (EV) currently account for less than 5% of passenger car sales, national statistics do not provide market size statistics. For trends and analysis of electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide, the International Energy Agency (IEA) publishes an annual report on the internet.