Last year, global electric vehicle sales topped 20 million, and 1 in 4 new cars was counted as an electric vehicle, including hybrids.

InsideEVs, an electric-vehicle news outlet, reported on May 26 that the International Energy Agency said last year’s global sales of plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles topped 20 million. It said their share of the new-car market hit a record high of 25 percent.

Electrified vehicles also rose to 5 percent of the total vehicle fleet. The IEA forecast this year’s EV sales will exceed 23 million and that electrification’s share of the global new-car market will approach 30 percent.

The United States showed a relatively weak trend among major markets. Its EV sales share did not reach 10 percent, and EV sales fell in the fourth quarter last year. The possibility of weaker demand this year was also raised due to automakers’ production adjustments and a reduction in a $7,500 tax credit.

China and Europe, by contrast, continued to grow. China sold 13.2 million EVs last year, accounting for 53 percent of its new-car market. Europe’s sales rose 30 percent to above 4 million, and its market share was 28 percent.

Adoption also accelerated in emerging and developing economies. EV sales in those markets rose 80 percent last year. In particular, inflows of low-priced Chinese-made vehicles drove electrification. In Mexico, EV sales tripled, and 85 percent of them were imported Chinese vehicles. From 2020 to 2025, as the EV share in the United States rose from 2 percent to 10 percent, Nepal expanded from 10 percent to 68 percent, Thailand from 1 percent to 23 percent, and Turkiye from 0 percent to 22 percent.

Market concentration also increased. There were 630 EV models sold last year, but 5 models accounted for 20 percent of the overall market: Tesla’s Model Y and Model 3, Geely’s Geome Xingyuan, the Wuling Hongguang Mini and BYD’s Seagull. Average EV driving range stalled at about 236 miles, or about 380 km.

The gap in price competitiveness also persisted. In China, about 30 percent of EVs were priced below $20,000, but in the United States, the share of EVs priced at $40,000 or less was under 20 percent. By contrast, the share of internal combustion cars in the same price range was above 40 percent. Still, in the United States, the number of EV models priced below $40,000 rose to about 20 in 2025 from fewer than 15 in 2024, reflecting price cuts.

Differences in the scale of support were also clear. China invested more than $35 billion in EV support in 2025. The United States invested $5.2 billion, and Europe invested more than $10 billion. Global electric truck sales more than doubled last year to above 400,000 vehicles, and most of the increase occurred in China.