The Trump administration has done everything it can to slow the growth of EVs. But in an ironic twist, Trump’s war in Iran is boosting the EV industry globally.
After the U.S. attacked Iran in late February and the price of crude oil soared, global EV sales also surged. A new report from Ember, an energy think tank that is tracking EV sales in 56 countries, found that 49 of them have hit new records for EVs this year.
Between March and August, EV sales in New Zealand grew 165% compared with the previous six months. In Chile, they were up 124%, and in India, 58%.
In many countries, the growth was also supported by new policies. In Germany, for example, pro-EV policies that rolled out last year were in place as fuel prices rose. By August, as Germany’s gas prices reached a record high of around $8.52 per gallon, the country’s battery electric vehicle sales made up 27.5% of total car sales—a 50% increase over the same month last year.
“First you had fuel efficiency standards—which basically means a lot of manufacturers suddenly started bringing out more affordable electric car models at the start of this year—and then there was also some more direct policy support in Germany,” says Euan Graham, senior energy analyst at Ember. “So, all of that has meant that as consumer interest in EVs has risen and as petrol prices have risen, consumers have also had more affordable electric car models to choose from.”
In Uruguay, which has supported EV growth for more than a decade, the share of EV sales reached a record high of 38% in August. Vietnam hit 51%. Australia reached a 20% share. Norway, a longtime leader in EVs, hit 98%. Countries that have been slower to adopt the cars are also catching up. India had a 2% EV share in 2024, but that grew to 7% this August.
Overall, total global EV sales are up 11% year over year for the first eight months of 2026. Excluding data from the U.S. and China (Chinese car sales have dropped overall), global EV sales have grown 45% this year.
The U.S. is being left behind
There’s a notable outlier: New EV sales have fallen in the U.S. Over the first nine months of 2026, EV sales were down 30% compared with the same period last year.
Several policy changes contributed to the decline. The Trump administration killed off the $7,500 tax credit for EVs. It also froze funding for EV charging infrastructure (a judge ruled that the freeze was illegal, though states have been slow to use the money). Tariffs made it more expensive to make EV batteries. The administration rolled back fuel efficiency standards. In response, automakers have canceled multiple EV models in the U.S., from the Ford F-150 Lightning to the Nissan Ariya. As gas prices rose this year, consumers had fewer options.
EV sales in the U.S. rebounded slightly in the third quarter, and used EV sales are also growing. New lower-cost models like Slate’s minimalist electric truck and Ford’s upcoming $28,000 EV will likely help. Still, the U.S. is lagging behind the rest of the world.
Ember tracks EV sales in every country where data is available. In 49 out of 56 countries, the market share of EVs has now outpaced the U.S. Fifteen countries, including India and Brazil, overtook the U.S. this year.
China’s huge EV industry, which is now a major exporter, is benefiting. Domestic EV industries are growing in some other countries, including Vietnam and India. American auto manufacturers, meanwhile, have been forced to write down billions in losses because of their EV investments. Eventually, as the rest of the world keeps moving in a different direction, they may become obsolete. “I think the biggest impact is on the long-term competitiveness of U.S. auto manufacturers,” Graham says.
The Ember report details how much countries with strong EV adoption have benefited during the Iran war. China, for example, has been able to displace $14 billion in crude oil imports because of its fleet of electric cars. (That’s not counting the additional benefit from the use of electric trucks, buses, and other vehicles.) Globally, the report estimates that oil-importing countries have been able to displace 200 million barrels of crude oil since the war started, worth around $20 billion.
It’s not clear what will happen when the war ends and fuel prices stabilize. Graham expects the market share of EVs to continue to grow, but says that policy is still critical. “I think that the long-term impact of this supply crisis is really going to be defined by whether governments change how they plan for the future,” he says.