According to a report by Navigant Research, about three million of light duty plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) will be sold per year by 2020, accounting for 3% of the total light duty vehicle market.
The vehicles will include both plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs).
Growth in sales will be mainly driven by the rise in fuel prices, sliding PEV prices, and increasing availability of PEV models, the analysts said.
Navigant Research principal research analyst Dave Hurst said in its earliest days, the market for PEVs experienced both a great deal of hype and intense skepticism.
"Neither scenario has proven true, as the PEV market continues to grow rapidly about 150 percent between 2011 and 2012 but remains a very small part of the overall global automotive market, with 0.2 percent market share in 2012," Hurst said.
Factors which could act as barrier against growth include limited availability of PEVs in a number of large vehicle markets, including the US, Germany, France, China, and other Asia Pacific countries.
The analysts however believe that the limiting factors could be addressed over the next two years, with companies like Honda, Volkswagen, Hyundai, and others have launched vehicles in a broad range of countries.
