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Ulviyya Poladova

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The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine have sent shockwaves through global energy markets, pushing fuel prices to record levels in many parts of the world. For millions of drivers, the rising cost of gasoline has become a powerful reminder of their dependence on traditional internal combustion engines.

For some countries, this transition would represent a major transformation in everyday life, affecting everything from personal mobility to energy consumption habits. However, in other regions, the shift toward electric transportation is no longer a distant vision of the future. Statistics show that electric vehicles have been steadily gaining popularity for several years, supported by technological advances, government incentives, and growing environmental awareness.

According to the International Energy Agency’s latest update building on the Global EV Outlook 2026, overall passenger car sales in the first half of the year fell roughly 5 percent compared with the same period in 2025. China and the United States were the main drags, hit by economic headwinds and the lingering effects of higher fuel prices. Yet electric cars told a different story. After a soft first quarter, global EV sales jumped about 35 percent from Q1 to Q2 and hit record levels in some 50 markets. More than 90 countries recorded year-on-year growth in the first six months.

China’s EV market is so large that even a flat year there moves the global needle. For the first time this decade, Chinese electric-car sales are expected to show little or no growth versus 2025. That is a genuine deceleration after years of explosive expansion. At the same time, the share of EVs in China’s total car sales is projected to climb above 60 percent.

Meanwhile, Australia, Europe, South Korea and several other regions posted strong gains that largely offset the softness in China and the US. In Australia, Brazil, India, South Korea and Vietnam, sales roughly doubled in the March-June window compared with the same months of 2025. Europe saw solid year-on-year momentum earlier in the year as well. Emerging markets that once looked peripheral are now material contributors.

In March-June 2026, sales of electric vehicles increased compared to the same period last year:

• in Latin America - by 132%;
• in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding China - by 101%;
• in Southeast Asia - by 62%;
• in Europe - by 33%.
• In China, sales of electric cars decreased by 16%, and in the USA and Canada - by 22%.

The sharp rise in global demand for electric vehicles is not happening for just one reason. One of the most important drivers is the growing instability in fuel markets. The war in the Middle East has already shaken many economies, and major transport routes for oil tankers - including the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait - have all come under threat. As a result, fuel supplies look less secure, prices remain vulnerable, and consumers are increasingly looking at electric transport as a safer and more practical alternative.

When petrol and diesel prices rise, people begin to think differently about the long-term cost of owning a car. In that situation, electric vehicles become more attractive, not only because they are cleaner, but because they reduce dependence on oil and constant swings in fuel prices. So yes, high fuel prices are clearly helping push more consumers toward EVs.

Russia is another telling example. After Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries and fuel infrastructure, the country faced serious fuel disruptions and shortages. Against that background, demand for electric vehicles and hybrids became more noticeable. According to Avtostat, sales of plug-in hybrids in June rose by 23% compared with May and were 2.7 times higher than in June of the previous year, reaching 6,100 vehicles. Sales of fully electric vehicles totaled 748 units, which was 10% higher than in May, although still 22% lower than in June 2025. Even so, the trend shows that when fuel supply becomes unreliable, interest in alternatives grows.

Another reason demand is rising is that electric vehicles are becoming more competitive in terms of total cost of ownership. EVs becomes attractive not just because of environmental concerns, but because over time they can be cheaper to run and maintain, especially during periods of oil price instability. This makes them more appealing to both households and businesses. The agency expects global EV sales to grow by around 10% in 2026, reaching 23 million vehicles, with their share of new car sales rising to about 29%.

Battery costs have continued to ease as well. Widespread use of lithium-iron-phosphate chemistry and relatively contained raw-material prices helped push average pack prices down. More affordable models, particularly from Chinese manufacturers, have expanded the addressable market in Latin America, Southeast Asia and parts of Europe. In some of those countries Chinese brands already account for the large majority of EV sales.

It is worth adding that in 2018, the share of electric vehicles among new vehicle registrations in the European Union was only 1%. In April 2026, almost every third new car in the EU was electric. The development of electric mobility has progressed especially far in the Nordic countries. In Norway, almost all new cars are electric (99%), in Denmark their share has reached 82%, in Sweden - 65%. The governments of these countries have long supported environmentally friendly transport, and the charging infrastructure is well developed and continues to expand.

In the UK in May 2026, about 40% of new cars were electric, in Germany - 37%, in France - 34%. In all three countries, sales of electric vehicles increased by about a third compared to the same month of the previous year.

China plays a decisive role in the future of the EV market. Even if the Chinese car market weakens in 2026 and EV sales growth slows compared with previous years, the country is still expected to set a record. That alone shows how central China remains to the global transition. At the same time, the export side is becoming even more important. In the first half of 2026, Chinese EV exports almost matched the total export volume of all of 2025, and more than 1 million Chinese-made electric vehicles are already available for sale in world markets, including unsold stock from previous months.