Building your electric dreams: The top 7 EV manufacturers in 2022

Seven of the best electric manufacturers

When it comes to electrification of our vehicles, these brands are the best in the game

Electric driving isn’t the fun fad it once was.

With pretty much every established brand now offering at least one electric vehicle – and plenty of upstart newer brands that only offer electric cars – we’re spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing an electric car lease.

Whether you’re after a luxury electric saloon, or you just need a nippy electric supermini, there’s sure to be an EV that suits your budget and your lifestyle.

And the electric vehicle market is only going to grow, with forecasts predicting that over 14 million electric vehicles will be sold in 2023 – a four million increase (at least) from last year.

But which manufacturers are crushing the electric game?

Using data from EV Volumes, we’ve broken down which brands sold the most electric vehicles in the last year – and which ones are set to grow even further.

BYD

If you don’t already know BYD, you’ll want to get to know them.

Though BYD only launched over here this year, BYD has already leapfrogged Tesla to snatch the crown, having sold 1,858,34 electric vehicles in 2022 – a mammoth 211% growth from their still impressive 2021 performance.

If this growth continues, the Chinese manufacturer is likely to become the first manufacturer to produce over two million electric vehicles in one year. 

And this could likely happen this year, with BYD opening their books to a wider global audience. 

BYD aren’t new to the electric car business. Established in 2003, the automaker has been producing passenger cars, buses and electric bicycles for some time. If you’ve taken the bus in London over the past few years, it’s likely you’ve already experienced some BYD electric magic.

Not just an automobile manufacturer, BYD also can produce their batteries and semiconductor chips, making them a one-stop shop for all things EV. It’s this that means lead times are very short, with the company not having to wait on third parties for all the bits they need to complete a single car. 

The BYD Atto 3 is the first BYD EV to hit our roads, and it’s already making a splash with its fairly conservative exterior appearance, but quirky interior details.

The very definition of business on the outside, party on the inside. 

Tesla

The once-proud monarch of the electric car world, Tesla has only slipped a little. 

To second place, in fact. 

This is still impressive, given that the American brand is still reasonably new to car manufacturing compared to some of the legacy brands on the list.

Though only experiencing a 40% growth over the past year, from just under a million cars sold in 2021 to over a million cars sold in 2022 – the only other brand to have hit the million EV mark - Tesla isn’t going anywhere. 

With the Tesla Model X showing the world what was possible in luxury electric cars, the Tesla Model 3 opening up premium EV driving to a wider audience, and the Tesla Model Y the perfect hybrid of the two, there’s a reason the brand has become so popular with drivers across the globe. 

The Tesla Model 3 is one of the best-selling EVs across the globe and was the first electric car to sell over one million units.

There’s more to come from Tesla over the next few years, with plans for a second-gen Roadster and an electric semi-truck firmly established. 

Only time will tell if Tesla can regain the top spot for electric manufacturing.

Volkswagen Group

One of the world’s largest automakers by sales, Volkswagen turned up later to the electric car party than a lot of other manufacturers, but after launching its ID-badged range of cars in 2019, it’s proving once again why it’s such a popular brand with many drivers. 

The VW ID.3 spearheaded the German automaker’s electric charge and has since been joined by the Volkswagen ID.4, ID.5 and ID. Buzz (an electric twist on the ever-popular VW Camper, available in both MPV and Cargo guise).

And after selling over 800,000 electric vehicles last year (a 10% increase on 2021), Volkswagen’s share of the electric pie is only going to increase as their range grows.

The company announced its ambitious ‘Strategy 2025’ back in 2016, with a focus on the electrification of its portfolio. The plan was to launch over 30 fully electric vehicles by 2025, selling around 2 million EVs per year.

An ambitious plan, and likely one that won’t be fully realised by the target date – but VW are taking their electrification strategy seriously, with the company intending to increase investment and revamp the software strategy.

This includes a further four models added to the ID range, including the ID.6 SUV, ID.7 saloon, and the ID.2all which was unveiled in its concept form earlier this year, and the ID.1 which will likely replace the VW e-Up.

And after all that?

Watch this space. 

GM 

An American automotive company, GM has a long, illustrious history.

The largest automaker by sales in the US last year and the largest in the world for 77 years (until Toyota stole the top spot back in 2008), GM is a car manufacturing giant incorporating Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac.

The company has a long electric history, debuting its first EV back in 1990.

It was named the General Motors EV1 for its eventual production run in 1996 and was available only from a few California dealers. Unfortunately, the EV1 was discontinued in 1999, and it wasn’t until 2011 that GM released another electric vehicle – the Chevrolet Spark EV.

GM dabbled in a couple more electric cars after that, including the Chevrolet Bolt EV (their first mass-market EV since the EV1).

But in 2021, GM announced their intention to end sales of their ICE cars by 2035 and unveiled its new slogan: ‘EVerybody in’ (see what they’ve done with the capitalised EV?). 

The company sold over 500,000 EVs that year and a further 584,000 in 2022, and things are only going to get better for the brand as they invest more money into electric tech to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.

It’s brought back the Hummer nameplate for a series of EVs, including a pick-up that went on sale in 2021, and has also launched BrightDrop, a new marque to sell its all-electric commercial vehicles under.

With a distinguished past and a bright future, GM is set to continue its impressive EV growth and become one of the go-to electric brands in the US.

Stellantis

Formed in 2021 by a merger between automotive groups Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the French PSA Group, Stellantis is now the fourth largest vehicle manufacturer, beaten only by Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai-Kia.

As many as 16 brands fall under the Stellantis umbrella, including Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Fiat Professional, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram and Vauxhall.

An impressive list featuring some big names. 

And with many of the brands already featuring at least one fully electric vehicle on the books (including Peugeot, Abarth, Vauxhall, DS and Fiat), it’s no wonder Stellantis posted a 34% growth in electric car sales in 2022, increasing from 380,000 to 512,000.

The Group as a whole also has some big plans for the future of its electric cars, with the might of so many behind it enabling innovation on a large scale. 

Part of the EV growth includes developing its electric vehicle platforms, which will be shared between the various brands and will enable all sorts of shapes and sizes of vehicles to be spun off of the platforms, as well as investing in charging infrastructure and increasing driving range across the board.

And by 2030, Stellantis plans to have over 75 EVs on offer across the Group, with 100% of their European sales coming from electric vehicles by the end of the decade.

Hyundai Motors

Hyundai Motors, which also owns Kia and Genesis, saw an impressive 43% growth last year – a similar rate to Tesla.

In fact, Hyundai and Kia have launched some of the most innovative and impressive EVs outside of the American giant in the past few years, with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6 showcasing just what the South Korean manufacturer can do.

After dabbling in EVs and other flexible-fuel vehicles in the 80s and 90s, Hyundai unveiled the first Ioniq in 2016 – their first fully-electric vehicle since the Hyundai Sonata Electric Vehicle in 1991. 

And since then, the brand has gone from strength to strength and sold nearly 500,000 EVs in 2022. A number that’s even more impressive when you consider how many brands other large groups have on the books.

Like most manufacturers, Hyundai-Kia are heavily investing in electrification, including the development of the Electric Global Modular Platform which forms the underpinnings for the majority of their electric vehicles.

Hyundai also launched Ioniq as its standalone brand in 2020 for Hyundai’s electric cars to be sold under and confirmed the first three EVs to be sold under this marque, including the Ioniq 5, the Ioniq 6 saloon and the Ioniq 7 SUV. Alongside Ioniq, Hyundai also owns standalone brand Genesis – a luxury vehicle brand with both ICE and electric cars.

And the Genesis electric vehicles really are very nice.

We’re excited to see what Hyundai unveils next.

BMW Group

You might not know this, but BMW was one of the earliest pioneers of the mass-market electric vehicle – and has since become the third best-selling electric car brand in the UK.

The BMW i3 was one of the first EVs available, but BMW’s electric history begins earlier than that.

BMW first started investing in electric research back in 1969 and built two EVs based on the BMW 02. According to the brand, these initial models ‘marked the beginning of a path that the company has followed consistently, innovatively and confidently to this day.’

And they’re not half wrong.

BMW now offers six electric models within its impressive line-up: the i5, iX1, i7, iX, i4 and iX3, as well as the MINI Electric under the MINI brand. They’re some of the best luxury electric vehicles available on the market, with a focus on both driving experience and tech.

It’s one of the broadest offerings amongst the established premium brands, and there is an electric BMW model to suit everyone. 

The brand is continuing to invest in its electric future, to create a sustainable model that doesn’t focus solely on the zero-emissions car, but the entire supply chain from the raw materials to the factories the vehicles are built in.

And with BMW’s ‘Neue Klasse’ strategy coming into play in 2025, the sky isn’t the electric limit for the German giant.