EV Sales Keep Climbing as the World Turns Electric

The electric car boom has not lost its nerve. Even with policy shifts, regional slowdowns, and fresh geopolitical pressure on energy markets, the global EV story is still moving in one direction: up.

The International Energy Agency says electric vehicle sales are on track to reach 23 million in 2026. If that happens, nearly 30% of all new cars sold worldwide this year will be electric. That forecast lands after a huge 2025, when global EV sales passed 20 million, up 20% from the year before. In simple terms, one out of every four new cars sold last year was an EV.

That matters because the broader backdrop is anything but calm. Energy markets remain tense as conflict in the Middle East continues to ripple through oil and fuel prices. Yet in many countries, that pressure is doing something unexpected: it is making electric cars look even more sensible. When petrol and diesel get expensive, the appeal of plugging in becomes a lot easier to understand.

Early 2026 did bring a wobble. Global EV sales slipped 8% in the first quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, partly because of policy changes in China and the United States. But the global headline hides a much more uneven and, frankly, more interesting picture.

China remains the heavyweight. In 2025, about 13 million electric cars were sold there, meaning roughly 55% of all new cars bought in the country were electric. No other market comes close. China is not just the biggest EV market on the planet, it is still setting the pace for the rest of the industry.

Elsewhere, momentum is far from fading. Europe posted nearly 30% year on year EV sales growth in the first quarter. Across Asia Pacific, excluding China, sales jumped 80%. Latin America also surged, with growth of 75%. According to the IEA, almost 90 countries recorded year on year EV sales growth in March alone, while around 30 countries hit new monthly records.

China built the machine everyone else is chasing

The numbers on manufacturing are just as striking. Chinese carmakers supplied 60% of all EVs sold globally in 2025. European brands and North American manufacturers each accounted for around 15%. That gap says a lot about where scale, speed, and supply chain control currently sit.

China also built nearly 75% of the world’s roughly 22 million electric vehicles last year. Domestic production ran ahead of local demand, and that overflow spilled into global markets. Chinese EV exports doubled to more than 2.5 million vehicles.

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In markets outside China, Europe, and the US, dependence on Chinese-made EVs has become dramatic. Around 55% of electric vehicles sold in those regions were imported from China in 2025. Five years ago, that share was below 5%. That is not just growth. That is a full industrial reshaping in plain sight.

The same pattern shows up in batteries. China accounted for more than 80% of global battery cell production in 2025, tightening its grip on one of the most strategically important parts of the electric car economy. Carmakers everywhere know the same truth: if you want to compete seriously in EVs, battery access is not a side issue. It is the game.

The IEA also sees the road ahead getting busier very quickly. Today’s global EV fleet of nearly 80 million vehicles could swell to as many as 510 million by 2035, even without any new policy support being introduced. That is a staggering jump, and it suggests electric mobility is moving beyond the early adoption phase into something much broader and harder to reverse.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol pointed to falling battery prices as one of the biggest reasons for that continued momentum. He also noted that governments may respond to the current energy crisis with policies that further encourage EV adoption. Cheaper batteries and stronger incentives are a powerful combination. For buyers, that often means a lower price tag upfront and a clearer case for long term savings.

One of the fastest moving stories is no longer in Europe

Southeast Asia is starting to look like one of the most important EV growth stories to watch. Sales in the region more than doubled in 2025, pushing electric vehicles to nearly 20% of the market. That is not a niche anymore. That is a serious shift.

The IEA believes EVs could account for 60% of new car sales in Southeast Asia by 2035, driven by lower prices and more supportive government policy. Vietnam, currently the region’s largest EV market, has already signalled plans to expand tax incentives as countries respond to higher energy costs and the need for cleaner transport.

There is another signal hidden in the report too: electric trucks are gaining real traction. Global sales of electric trucks more than doubled in 2025, with China far ahead of the rest of the field. Nearly one in ten trucks sold worldwide last year was electric. For a segment once seen as difficult to electrify at scale, that is a meaningful turning point.

This year’s Global EV Outlook also widens the lens beyond hardware. The report adds a new section on automotive software and artificial intelligence, a reminder that the future of the car business will not be decided by batteries alone. Increasingly, it will also be shaped by code, digital ecosystems, and the intelligence built into the vehicle itself.

So yes, the market has had its bumps. Some countries are recalibrating incentives. Others are dealing with supply chain stress or political uncertainty. But the bigger pattern is still unmistakable. Electric vehicles are not retreating. They are spreading, market by market, segment by segment, until what once looked like disruption starts to feel like the new default.

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