China made more than half of electric car purchases in the third quarter. Electric vehicles sales surged to a record in the third quarter, largely driven by strong demand in China. Sales of battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids exceeded 287,000 units in the three months ended in September, 63 per cent higher than the same quarter a year ago and up 23 per cent from the second quarter, according to a report released Tuesday by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). China

Forecasts of how many electric vehicles (EVs) will be joining the global fleet are all moving in the same direction — up. Exxon Mobil Corp. raised its 2040 forecast to 100 million EVs from 64.8 million the previous year. Last year BP predicted 71.4 million by 2035, and now it sees 100 million. The International Energy Agency more than doubled its base-case EV forecast for 2030. OPEC outdid them all. In 2016, the group predicted 266 million EVs in 2040, almost six times the ye