Code
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import plotly.graph_objects as go
from plotly.subplots import make_subplotsMakeoverMonday: Global EV Sales by Region - Who Leads Adoption
MakeoverMonday
Python
Data Viz
Battery and plug-in sales from IEA via Our World in Data: China, Europe, US, and the rest of the world compared over time
Overview
Electric car sales have shifted from niche experiments to a structural market force. This makeover uses regional aggregates published by Our World in Data (IEA Global EV Outlook) to compare how China, Europe, the United States, and the rest of the world scale up.
- Data Source: Our World in Data - Electric car sales (IEA Global EV Outlook)
- Angle: Volume trajectories and each region’s share of the four-way total
Dataset
Code
url = "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electric-car-sales.csv"
raw = pd.read_csv(url)
raw.columns = raw.columns.str.replace(" ", "_")
regions = ["China", "Europe", "United States", "Rest of World"]
ev = raw[raw["Entity"].isin(regions)].copy()
ev = ev.rename(columns={"Electric_cars_sold": "sales"})
ev["Year"] = ev["Year"].astype(int)
ev = ev.sort_values(["Entity", "Year"])
wide = ev.pivot(index="Year", columns="Entity", values="sales").fillna(0)
wide["four_sum"] = wide[regions].sum(axis=1)
for c in regions:
key = "pct_" + c.replace(" ", "_")
wide[key] = np.where(wide["four_sum"] > 0, wide[c] / wide["four_sum"] * 100, 0)My Makeover
China pulls away while other regions climb steadily
Code
colors = {
"China": CN,
"Europe": EU,
"United States": US,
"Rest of World": ROW,
}
fig = go.Figure()
for entity in regions:
sub = ev[ev["Entity"] == entity].sort_values("Year")
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(
x=sub["Year"],
y=sub["sales"],
mode="lines",
name=entity,
line=dict(color=colors[entity], width=3 if entity == "China" else 2),
hovertemplate=f"{entity}<br>%{{x}}: %{{y:,.0f}}<extra></extra>",
))
latest = ev["Year"].max()
last_cn = ev[(ev["Entity"] == "China") & (ev["Year"] == latest)]["sales"].sum()
fig.update_layout(
**THEME,
title=make_title(
f"Electric car sales by region: China reached {last_cn:,.0f} units in {int(latest)}"
),
height=450,
margin=dict(l=60, r=30, t=100, b=100),
xaxis=dict(title=""),
yaxis=dict(title="Electric cars sold (per year)"),
legend=dict(orientation="h", yanchor="bottom", y=1.02, xanchor="right", x=1),
)
add_legend_note(fig, "Line width emphasizes China vs other regions")
add_source(fig)
assert_no_title_overlap(fig)
# X post: chart-1.png in post folder (works whether cwd is project root or post dir)
from pathlib import Path
import os
_post = "2026-04-21-makeover-monday"
qproj = os.environ.get("QUARTO_PROJECT_DIR")
cwd = Path.cwd()
if qproj:
chart_path = Path(qproj) / "posts" / _post / "chart-1.png"
elif cwd.name == _post:
chart_path = cwd / "chart-1.png"
else:
chart_path = cwd / "posts" / _post / "chart-1.png"
chart_path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
fig.write_image(str(chart_path), width=1200, height=600, scale=2)
fig.show()