Global sales of electric cars are set to soar by 35 percent in 2023, expanding their share of the overall car market to close to a fifth, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.

In its annual Global Electric Vehicle Outlook, the IEA said that more than 10 million electric cars were sold worldwide in 2022, and sales are expected to reach 14 million in 2023.

Over 2.3 million electric cars were sold in the first quarter of 2023, the IEA said, about 25 percent more than in the same period last year.

"This explosive growth means electric cars' share of the overall car market has risen from around 4 percent in 2020 to 14 percent in 2022, and is set to increase further to 18 percent this year," the IEA said.

China was the leading market for electric cars in 2022, accounting for 60 percent of global electric car sales last year. More than half of all the electric cars on the road worldwide are in China, according to the IEA.

China and Europe are also working closely in the electric car field. Europe is China's largest trade partner for electric cars and their batteries, the IEA said.

"In 2022, the share of electric cars manufactured in China and sold in the European market increased to 16 percent, up from about 11 percent in 2021," the agency noted in its Outlook report.

"Electric vehicles are one of the driving forces in the new global energy economy that is rapidly emerging -- and they are bringing about a historic transformation of the car manufacturing industry worldwide," said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

By 2030, electric cars will save at least 5 million barrels a day of oil, he added.

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