In 2025, the world bought 20.7 million EVs – 3.6 million extra EVs than it did within the earlier yr, in response to a brand new report by Rho Movement. That’s a bigger enhance than final yr’s 3.5 million enhance, which was additionally larger than the earlier yr, exhibiting that EVs continue to grow regardless of unprecedented assaults in opposition to them by governments and by the automakers themselves.
2025 was as soon as once more marked by ubiquitous falsehoods within the media relating to electrical automobiles.
If you happen to spent the yr studying headlines, or listening to lobbying from automakers, or political statements by fossil shills squatting in authorities, you’d assume the underside was falling out of EV gross sales.
In any case, for not simply this previous yr, however over two years now, there have been tales all all through media claiming that EV gross sales are slowing, cooling, falling, or some other variety of inaccurate phrases.
Even automakers have reacted to those falsehoods and lowered their EV manufacturing plans – even ones which have growing EV gross sales and declining fuel automobile gross sales, and which know will lose billions attributable to their EV intransigence.
The mildly-informed particular person would possibly see these headlines and these actions and assume that doom and gloom is on the horizon, that the EV transition has fizzled out.
However anybody who bothered to search for one single gross sales quantity all yr would maybe see issues in a different way.
Sure, as soon as once more, EV gross sales are up. By quite a bit.
It seems, EV gross sales are literally up. Not solely are they up, they’re up by quite a bit. Although that shouldn’t be a shock, as a result of they’ve by no means not been up.
And now, as soon as once more, we’ve got extra knowledge to point out it.
Rho Movement/Benchmark Minerals Intelligence launched its annual tally of EV gross sales at this time, exhibiting an enormous leap in world electrical car gross sales in 2025 as in comparison with 2024.
Globally, EV gross sales went up 20% to twenty.7 million, setting one more document (observe: there has by no means been a yr {that a} world document wasn’t set for EV gross sales, as a result of EV gross sales have by no means gone down yr over yr). Any firm, particularly one in a long-term low-growth business, would kill for a gross sales enhance that enormous.
Not solely had been gross sales up globally, they had been up in most areas. China noticed a 17% rise to 12.9 million, Europe rose 33% to 4.3 million, and “Remainder of World” bought 1.7 million EVs, a whopping 48% enhance.
One area did go down although – North America, which noticed a 4% lower in EV gross sales year-over-year, with 1.8 million whole EVs bought (solely barely above the RoW quantity… a reasonably pathetic exhibiting for the market dominated by the richest nation on the earth).
The drop in North American EV gross sales shares similarities to what occurred in Europe from ’23-’24. When Germany abruptly cancelled EV incentives in late 2023, EV gross sales dropped considerably in Europe’s most car-buying nation.
This dragged down European EV gross sales totals for the following yr or so, despite the fact that virtually all different international locations nonetheless skilled a rise in gross sales. And was accompanied by many thinkpieces concerning the finish of the EV transition, or incorrect sentences suggesting that EV gross sales had been dropping Europe-wide.
And but, take a look at that new quantity for 2025 – European gross sales had been up 33% year-over-year. It seems, the EV transition remains to be happening fairly nicely sufficient, after working by means of the hiccup from one nation.
Does this sound acquainted?
Certainly, within the US, republicans simply inflated the worth of EVs by $7,500, on the best way to their objective of sending the US auto business to China and in response to asked-for bribes from the fossil gasoline business. This led to an enormous growth in EV gross sales in Q3 earlier than incentives expired, and an enormous drop in EV gross sales in This fall, after they had been gone. And identical to Germany, we anticipate depressed gross sales will stay for some time period, after which gross sales will resume rising as soon as once more.
Not solely are EV gross sales up, they’re up extra than final yr
Over the course of the final couple years of false headlines about EV gross sales, some have tried to recommend that the phrase “EV gross sales gradual” doesn’t seek advice from the gross sales numbers themselves, however to progress of gross sales numbers.
However the truth is, the three.6 million unit enhance in EV gross sales in 2025 is bigger than the three.5 million unit enhance in 2024, which is bigger once more than the three.2 million enhance in 2023.
So, not solely are gross sales up, however gross sales progress is up. If a unit gross sales enhance will get bigger yearly, that’s accelerating progress, not decelerating.
And fuel automobile gross sales are nonetheless down
In the meantime, fuel automobile gross sales are truly down long run.
Globally, gross sales of inside combustion automobiles are down a couple of quarter from their peak in 2017, and are anticipated to by no means attain that peak once more. The combustion engine’s time within the solar is over, and it has been for some time.
So, to take a look at rising EV gross sales and declare an issue there whereas ignoring – or worse, re-committing – to the falling inside combustion market is mindless in any way, particularly in a enterprise with lengthy improvement timelines.
So in fact, that’s what Western auto producers have achieved.
Western automakers will fail in the event that they decide to a falling market
All through the final couple years, automakers have performed their commonplace tune – begging governments to allow them to poison everybody just a bit bit extra.
There’s even motive to consider that incorrect headlines about EV gross sales had been an intentional effort by automakers to affect laws, as argued by Union of Involved Scientists’ David Reichmuth. By claiming that EV gross sales are softer than they’re, and ignoring falling fuel automobile gross sales, automakers had been hoping to affect governments to melt targets, in order that they might save a few cents on regulatory prices.
Automakers did have some success in getting governments to melt their targets because of these falsehoods. The Biden EPA adopted softer exhaust guidelines because of automaker lobbying, and Europe not too long ago softened its EV timeline for a second time, each in response to incorrect claims about EV demand. Anticipate the identical conduct within the UK this yr, despite the fact that that nation is on monitor to fulfill timelines.
However those self same automakers appear to have gotten too excessive on their very own provide, adjusting their plans to include the misinformation about EV gross sales that they themselves planted. Many have lowered their EV manufacturing plans and re-committed to outdated and unpopular fuel automobiles going ahead.
But regardless of their greatest efforts, EV gross sales nonetheless rise, and fuel automobile gross sales nonetheless fall, as we’ve seen above.
Guess who isn’t doing that? China
This push in opposition to progress has not less than been true for Western automakers, and for Japanese ones too (the Koreans, Hyundai/Kia, do take part in backwards business lobbying organizations, however have largely been clear that EVs are the best way to go).
Not so for Chinese language automakers. Chinese language automakers are charging ahead with EV manufacturing, committing to supply the extra environment friendly automobiles that the world wants and is demanding. As an alternative of placing their effort into offering the outdated gassers that no person desires, they’re making state-of-the-art EVs which can be way more reasonably priced to make use of.
And as a substitute of competing, Western international locations have thrown up unwise commerce boundaries that received’t work to get these international locations again on monitor.
This is the reason China not too long ago turned the biggest auto exporter on the earth – it deliberate and competed, as a substitute of enjoying the identical silly recreation of attempting to cease progress that incumbent business at all times performs.
We right here at Electrek have been clear about this for years now – automakers ought to look ahead, not backwards, and will cease pushing misinformation about their very own gross sales numbers by claiming that up is down. We haven’t had any particular perception right here, simply the straightforward capacity to evaluate two numbers to see which one is greater. Strive it out someday.
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