A new report by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) assesses how effectively the world’s 20 largest automakers are transitioning to electric vehicles. At the top of the ranking is Tesla, followed by Chinese manufacturer BYD, which is catching up fast.

The manufacturer assessment on the electric drive system turnaround is the first of its kind but will now be released annually. For the current report, the ICCT collected and analyzed data from six markets, including China, the EU, India, Japan, South Korea, and the USA.

The 20 manufacturers analyzed by the ICCT in its rating accounted for a total of 89% of sales in these six markets and 65% of global sales in 2022.

Tesla and BYD leading

The ICCT assesses the performance and strategy of the 20 automakers against a set of criteria related to their current position in the market, their technical performance, and their strategic vision for future decarbonization.

Specifically, the ICCT created ten proprietary metrics to compare the manufacturers and drew on what it said was independent information collected up to the end of 2022. Tesla received the highest overall score from the ICCT, followed by the Chinese manufacturer BYD.

Although Tesla is the only major manufacturer in the ranking that produces exclusively zero-emission vehicles, the company scores lower than the competition on some criteria, for example, the variety of zero-emission models. Tesla currently only has four model series.

The runner-up is BYD, the “only long-established carmaker to focus on fully electric vehicles”, as the ICCT puts it. According to the ICCT, the Chinese manufacturer is well on its way to catching up quickly with Tesla. The report describes both companies as ‘leaders’.

EU manufacturers in the midfield, Japanese lagging behind

BMW, Volkswagen, and Stellantis lead the midfield. Manufacturers such as Geely, Renault, Mercedes, GM, Ford, and Hyundai-Kia also cavort here.

The ICCT rating also shows that of the world’s 20 largest OEMs in terms of sales, six manufacturers lag behind their competitors. These include Tata as well as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, and Suzuki.

“All five manufacturers headquartered in Japan and Tata, headquartered in India, are at the bottom of our rating. However, most automakers score well on at least one metric; this reflects the complexity and breadth of the ZEV transition and the different approaches automakers take in the transition,” comments the ICCT.

Independent data

“Our goal with this report was to provide a data-driven, transparent analysis of automakers’ progress toward decarbonization, in their plans and actions,” expresses Zifei Yang, project manager and head of the ICCT Passenger Cars Programme.

She sees the rating as a forward-looking analysis of manufacturers’ preparation for vehicle electrification. It uses independent data and analysis instead of company surveys and self-reporting.

“The ICCT developed rating metrics intending to track progress over time, and the organization will update the rating yearly.”