From a continental perspective, European countries spent the most on imported electric cars during 2019 with purchases costing $16 billion or over three-quarters (69.2%) of the global total. In second place were importers in Asia at 16.7% while 13.3% of electric cars imported worldwide were delivered in North America.
Smaller percentages went to Oceania (1.5%) led by Australia and New Zealand, Latin America plus the Caribbean (0.3%) then Africa (0.1%).
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for electric cars is 870380. The first year that code prefix was used was 2017, so there is no data from prior periods to compare against.
Electric Cars Imports by Country
Top 15
Below are the 15 countries that imported the highest dollar value worth of electric cars during 2019.
- Belgium: US$3 billion (13% of total imported electric cars)
- Norway: $2.8 billion (12.1%)
- China: $2.5 billion (10.6%)
- Netherlands: $2.3 billion (9.8%)
- Germany: $1.62 billion (7%)
- United States: $1.58 billion (6.8%)
- United Kingdom: $1.25 billion (5.4%)
- Canada: $1.24 billion (5.4%)
- France: $1.1 billion (4.7%)
- Sweden: $672.1 million (2.9%)
- Switzerland: $634.4 million (2.7%)
- Portugal: $548 million (2.4%)
- Austria: $502.8 million (2.2%)
- Spain: $448.7 million (1.9%)
- South Korea: $370.5 million (1.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries purchased 88.4% of all electric cars imported in 2019. Within parenthesis is the percentage of overall electric cars shipments for each importer nation.
Belgium
Electric Cars Imported into Belgium
Belgium’s global purchases of imported electric cars totaled US$3 billion in 2019. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Belgium imported the highest dollar value worth of electric cars during 2019.
- United States: US$2.5 billion (up 8,216% from 2017)
- United Kingdom: $209 million (up 178.3%)
- Netherlands: $115.3 million (up 12.7%)
- Austria: $45.8 million (up 7,453%)
- Japan: $45.8 million (up 15.2%)
- South Korea: $28.2 million (up 1,711%)
- Germany: $26.2 million (up 5.9%)
- France: $14.8 million (up 6.9%)
- Spain: $6.2 million (up 64.1%)
- Slovakia: $4.3 million (no 2017 data)
- Luxembourg: $1.35 million (up 23.3%)
- China: $1.31 million (up 1,724%)
- Italy: $1.25 million (down -16.6%)
- Greece: $1.24 million (no 2017 data)
- Sweden: $1.2 million (up 74.7%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.99% of Belgium’s imported electric cars in 2019.
Overall, the value of Belgium’s electric cars imports expanded by an average 914.6% from all supplying countries since 2017 when electric cars purchased were valued at $295.8 million.
Norway
Electric Cars Imported into Norway
Norway’s global purchases of imported electric cars totaled US$2.8 billion in 2019. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Norway imported the highest dollar value worth of electric cars during 2019.
- United States: US$996.8 million (up 39.5% from 2017)
- Germany: $912.7 million (up 117%)
- South Korea: $298.1 million (up 101.9%)
- United Kingdom: $260.6 million (up 105.3%)
- Austria: $147.5 million (no 2017 data)
- France: $84.3 million (up 6.4%)
- Sweden: $29 million (up 6,616%)
- Spain: $27.9 million (up 180.5%)
- Netherlands: $15.5 million (up 4,394%)
- Slovakia: $11.1 million (down -25.7%)
- Belgium: $4.7 million (up 1,958%)
- Japan: $4.5 million (down -52.7%)
- Switzerland: $2.6 million (up 329.7%)
- Denmark: $1.3 million (up 811.4%)
- China: $532,000 (up 294.1%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.96% of all Norway’s imported electric cars in 2019.
Overall, the value of Norway’s electric cars imports expanded by an average 83.2% from all supplying countries since 2017 when electric cars purchased were valued at $1.5 billion.
China
Electric Cars Imported into China
China’s global purchases of imported electric cars totaled US$2.5 billion in 2019. Below are the top 13 suppliers from which China imported the highest dollar value worth of electric cars during 2019.
- United States: US$2.2 billion (up 56.5% from 2017)
- Belgium: $188.6 million (no 2017 data)
- Germany: $57.3 million (down -12.1%)
- Austria: $19.9 million (no 2017 data)
- Japan: $2.1 million (up 295.5%)
- France: $1 million (up 3,741%)
- Spain: $556,000 (no 2017 data)
- Sweden: $392,000 (no 2017 data)
- Thailand: $147,000 (no 2017 data)
- United Kingdom: $81,000 (no 2017 data)
- South Korea: $60,000 (no 2017 data)
- Italy: $50,000 (no 2017 data)
- China: $9,000 (no 2017 data)
By value, the listed countries shipped 100% of China’s imported electric cars in 2019.
Overall, the value of China’s electric cars imports increased by an average 67.9% from all supplying countries since 2017 when electric cars purchased were valued at $1.5 billion.
Dutch
Electric Cars Imported into the Netherlands
Dutch global purchases of imported electric cars totaled US$2.3 billion in 2019. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which the Netherlands imported the highest dollar value worth of electric cars during 2019.
- Belgium: US$1.3 billion (up 3284.3% from 2017)
- South Korea: $325.5 million (up 901%)
- Germany: $277.4 million (up 183.6%)
- United States: $277.0 million (up 4866.7%)
- Austria: $47.3 million (up 1457.1%)
- China: $28.2 million (up 2480.2%)
- Spain: $9.8 million (up 100.3%)
- United Kingdom: $9.7 million (up 439.5%)
- France: $8.2 million (up 136.2%)
- Thailand: $1.2 million (no 2017 data)
- Sweden: $1.95 million (up 90.7%)
- Poland: $1.9 million (up 3696.0%)
- Denmark: $1.5 million (up 59.9%)
- Czech Republic: $1.2 million (up 724.5%)
- Italy: $1.1 million (down -1.6%)
The listed 15 countries shipped 99.7% of electric cars imported into the Netherlands during 2019.
Overall, the value of Netherlands’ imported electric cars increased by an average 1,053% from all supplying countries since 2017 when electric cars purchases were valued at $196.3 million.
Best
Best-Selling Electric Car Models
Listed below are the world’s most popular plug-in electric car models based on annual sales according to hybridCARS.com, an online reviewer of cars. Shown within brackets is the automobile manufacturer for each electric car model.
- Leaf (Nissan)
- Model S (Tesla)
- Volt/Ampera (General Motors)
- Outlander PHEV (Mitsubishi)
- Prius PHV (Toyota)
- Qin (BYD)
- Zoe (Renault)
- i3 BEV and Rex (BMW)
- i-MiEV (Mitsubishi)
- Tang (BYD)
Searchable List of Electric Cars Importers in 2018
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below.
| Rank | Importer | Electric Car Imports (US$) | %Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Belgium | $3,000,804,000 | 13% |
| 2. | Norway | $2,798,356,000 | 12.1% |
| 3. | China | $2,466,807,000 | 10.6% |
| 4. | Netherlands | $2,262,420,000 | 9.8% |
| 5. | Germany | $1,618,784,000 | 7% |
| 6. | United States | $1,582,938,000 | 6.8% |
| 7. | United Kingdom | $1,246,865,000 | 5.4% |
| 8. | Canada | $1,242,147,000 | 5.4% |
| 9. | France | $1,081,196,000 | 4.7% |
| 10. | Sweden | $672,093,000 | 2.9% |
| 11. | Switzerland | $634,420,000 | 2.7% |
| 12. | Portugal | $547,985,000 | 2.4% |
| 13. | Austria | $502,780,000 | 2.2% |
| 14. | Spain | $448,734,000 | 1.9% |
| 15. | South Korea | $370,498,000 | 1.6% |
| 16. | Italy | $329,839,000 | 1.4% |
| 17. | Denmark | $221,989,000 | 1% |
| 18. | Australia | $221,581,000 | 1% |
| 19. | Taiwan | $179,638,000 | 0.8% |
| 20. | Japan | $133,416,000 | 0.6% |
| 21. | New Zealand | $128,856,000 | 0.6% |
| 22. | Jordan | $123,578,000 | 0.5% |
| 23. | Finland | $121,364,000 | 0.5% |
| 24. | Hong Kong | $120,664,000 | 0.5% |
| 25. | Ireland | $114,151,000 | 0.5% |
| 26. | United Arab Emirates | $102,857,000 | 0.4% |
| 27. | Bangladesh | $92,021,000 | 0.4% |
| 28. | Singapore | $74,766,000 | 0.3% |
| 29. | Israel | $62,844,000 | 0.3% |
| 30. | Hungary | $60,393,000 | 0.3% |
| 31. | Thailand | $60,314,000 | 0.3% |
| 32. | Slovakia | $45,067,000 | 0.2% |
| 33. | Iceland | $43,995,000 | 0.2% |
| 34. | Luxembourg | $40,614,000 | 0.2% |
| 35. | Romania | $37,094,000 | 0.2% |
| 36. | Ukraine | $36,329,000 | 0.2% |
| 37. | Czech Republic | $32,940,000 | 0.1% |
| 38. | Slovenia | $28,901,000 | 0.1% |
| 39. | Nepal | $21,472,000 | 0.1% |
| 40. | Colombia | $21,064,000 | 0.1% |
| 41. | Brazil | $20,647,000 | 0.1% |
| 42. | Turkey | $16,269,000 | 0.1% |
| 43. | Lithuania | $13,253,000 | 0.1% |
| 44. | Costa Rica | $12,713,000 | 0.1% |
| 45. | Gibraltar | $10,243,000 | 0.04% |
| 46. | Malta | $9,441,000 | 0.04% |
| 47. | Russia | $9,065,000 | 0.04% |
| 48. | Chile | $9,022,000 | 0.04% |
| 49. | Bulgaria | $8,475,000 | 0.04% |
| 50. | Croatia | $8,438,000 | 0.04% |
| 51. | Macao | $8,383,000 | 0.04% |
| 52. | Greece | $8,325,000 | 0.04% |
| 53. | Belarus | $8,131,000 | 0.04% |
| 54. | Latvia | $6,660,000 | 0.03% |
| 55. | South Africa | $6,616,000 | 0.03% |
| 56. | Estonia | $5,629,000 | 0.02% |
| 57. | India | $5,473,000 | 0.02% |
| 58. | Mauritius | $5,374,000 | 0.02% |
| 59. | Malaysia | $4,045,000 | 0.02% |
| 60. | Bermuda | $3,374,000 | 0.01% |
| 61. | Angola | $3,311,000 | 0.01% |
| 62. | Kazakhstan | $2,997,000 | 0.01% |
| 63. | Indonesia | $2,918,000 | 0.01% |
| 64. | Albania | $2,545,000 | 0.01% |
| 65. | Kuwait | $2,468,000 | 0.01% |
| 66. | Uruguay | $2,265,000 | 0.01% |
| 67. | Sri Lanka | $2,083,000 | 0.01% |
| 68. | Andorra | $1,891,000 | 0.01% |
| 69. | Lebanon | $1,806,000 | 0.01% |
| 70. | Cyprus | $1,685,000 | 0.01% |
| 71. | French Polynesia | $1,341,000 | 0.01% |
| 72. | Faroe Islands | $1,314,000 | 0.01% |
| 73. | Seychelles | $1,313,000 | 0.01% |
| 74. | Paraguay | $1,281,000 | 0.01% |
| 75. | Palestine | $1,212,000 | 0.01% |
| 76. | Armenia | $1,195,000 | 0.01% |
| 77. | Panama | $1,169,000 | 0.01% |
| 78. | Bahamas | $1,168,000 | 0.01% |
| 79. | Bahrain | $1,095,000 | 0.005% |
| 80. | Dominican Republic | $1,082,000 | 0.005% |
| 81. | Oman | $938,000 | 0.004% |
| 82. | Trinidad/Tobago | $929,000 | 0.004% |
| 83. | Morocco | $909,000 | 0.004% |
| 84. | Azerbaijan | $888,000 | 0.004% |
| 85. | Curaçao | $866,000 | 0.004% |
| 86. | New Caledonia | $789,000 | 0.003% |
| 87. | Argentina | $669,000 | 0.003% |
| 88. | Peru | $615,000 | 0.003% |
| 89. | Myanmar (Burma) | $579,000 | 0.002% |
| 90. | Cuba | $578,000 | 0.002% |
| 91. | Barbados | $557,000 | 0.002% |
| 92. | Serbia | $516,000 | 0.002% |
| 93. | Libya | $494,000 | 0.002% |
| 94. | Namibia | $493,000 | 0.002% |
| 95. | Mongolia | $463,000 | 0.002% |
| 96. | Iran | $452,000 | 0.002% |
| 97. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $431,000 | 0.002% |
| 98. | Vietnam | $430,000 | 0.002% |
| 99. | Cayman Islands | $409,000 | 0.002% |
| 100. | Ecuador | $402,000 | 0.002% |
| 101. | Uzbekistan | $390,000 | 0.002% |
| 102. | Gabon | $366,000 | 0.002% |
| 103. | Montenegro | $337,000 | 0.001% |
| 104. | US Minor Outlying Is | $331,000 | 0.001% |
| 105. | North Macedonia | $309,000 | 0.001% |
| 106. | Democr. Rep. Congo | $290,000 | 0.001% |
| 107. | Botswana | $261,000 | 0.001% |
| 108. | Madagascar | $247,000 | 0.001% |
| 109. | Guatemala | $245,000 | 0.001% |
| 110. | Cabo Verde | $244,000 | 0.001% |
| 111. | Bhutan | $238,000 | 0.001% |
| 112. | Iraq | $228,000 | 0.001% |
| 113. | Fiji | $227,000 | 0.001% |
| 114. | Maldives | $214,000 | 0.001% |
| 115. | Ghana | $181,000 | 0.001% |
| 116. | Bolivia | $181,000 | 0.001% |
| 117. | Greenland | $126,000 | 0.001% |
| 118. | Jamaica | $119,000 | 0.001% |
| 119. | Timor-Leste | $116,000 | 0.001% |
| 120. | Bonaire/St Eustatius/Saba | $93,000 | 0.0004% |
| 121. | Cambodia | $90,000 | 0.0004% |
| 122. | Grenada | $60,000 | 0.0003% |
| 123. | Rwanda | $55,000 | 0.0002% |
| 124. | Georgia | $51,000 | 0.0002% |
| 125. | British Virgin Islands | $50,000 | 0.0002% |
| 126. | Laos | $48,000 | 0.0002% |
| 127. | Sudan | $47,000 | 0.0002% |
| 128. | Pakistan | $45,000 | 0.0002% |
| 129. | Guyana | $41,000 | 0.0002% |
| 130. | Tanzania | $28,000 | 0.0001% |
| 131. | Congo | $25,000 | 0.0001% |
| 132. | Algeria | $24,000 | 0.0001% |
| 133. | Honduras | $24,000 | 0.0001% |
| 134. | Cameroon | $21,000 | 0.0001% |
| 135. | Anguilla | $21,000 | 0.0001% |
| 136. | Zimbabwe | $21,000 | 0.0001% |
| 137. | Kyrgyzstan | $18,000 | 0.0001% |
| 138. | Kenya | $17,000 | 0.0001% |
| 139. | Belize | $16,000 | 0.0001% |
| 140. | Zambia | $16,000 | 0.0001% |
| 141. | Tonga | $15,000 | 0.0001% |
| 142. | Falkland Is (Malvinas) | $15,000 | 0.0001% |
| 143. | Vanuatu | $15,000 | 0.0001% |
| 144. | Marshall Islands | $14,000 | 0.0001% |
| 145. | Free Zones | $14,000 | 0.0001% |
| 146. | Turkmenistan | $12,000 | 0.0001% |
| 147. | Mozambique | $10,000 | 0.00004% |
| 148. | Guinea | $10,000 | 0.00004% |
| 149. | Uganda | $9,000 | 0.00004% |
| 150. | Solomon Islands | $7,000 | 0.00003% |
| 151. | Papua New Guinea | $7,000 | 0.00003% |
| 152. | Turks/Caicos Islands | $5,000 | 0.00002% |
| 153. | Tunisia | $3,000 | 0.00001% |
| 154. | Montserrat | $3,000 | 0.00001% |
| 155. | Brunei Darussalam | $3,000 | 0.00001% |
| 156. | El Salvador | $2,000 | 0.00001% |
| 157. | Eswatini | $2,000 | 0.00001% |
| 158. | Togo | $2,000 | 0.00001% |
| 159. | Ethiopia | $1,000 | 0.000004% |
| 160. | Kiribati | $1,000 | 0.000004% |
| 161. | Malawi | $2,000 | 0.00002% |
See also Electric Cars Exports 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: Imports – Commodities. Accessed on November 20, 2020
hybridCARS, Global 10 Best-Selling Plug-In Cars Are Accelerating Forward. Accessed on November 20, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on November 20, 2020
Trade Map, International Trade Centre. Accessed on November 20, 2020
Wikipedia, List of electric cars currently available. Accessed on November 20, 2020
