Global EV registrations grew 20 per cent last year but are likely to lose pace in 2026, data showed on Wednesday, as a slowdown in China and a relaxation of electrification targets worldwide led in December to the smallest sales increase since February 2024.
Monthly registrations of electric vehicles, including battery electric and plug-in hybrids, dropped further in North America after the end in October of an EV tax credit scheme in the United States, consultancy Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI) said.
Radical policy shifts, including US President Donald Trump’s U-turn on electrification and a relaxation of emission standards in the European Union, shook the global EV market in 2025 into a “virtually unrecognisable landscape”, according to BMI data manager Charles Lester.
Rising competition in Europe and cooling demand in China are likely to intensify the debate between electrification proponents who emphasise the need to curb planet-warming CO2 emissions, and carmakers who say a quick transition threatens jobs and profit.
Global EV registrations, a proxy for sales, rose by 6 per cent to almost 2.1 million units in December, reaching 20.7 million vehicles in 2025, the data showed.
They were up by 2 per cent in China to more than 1.3 million, the lowest year-on-year increase since February 2024, leading to a 17 per cent increase to 12.9 million units in 2025. The country produced 71 per cent of EVs sold worldwide.
North American registrations fell by 39 per cent to just over 100,000 cars sold, following similar declines in October and November at the end of US tax credits. They were down 4 per cent for the entire 2025.
Europe was up by 34 per cent in December to over 450,000 registrations and by 33 per cent in the year, while in the rest of the world sales were up by 41 per cent to over 160,000 units in December, and by 48 per cent in 2025.
BMI expects 23.9 million EVs will be sold globally this year, a 15.7 per cent increase, with growth sharply accelerating in China to 21 per cent and slowing in Europe and the rest of the world to 15 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively. It forecasts a sharper decrease of 23 per cent in North America due to a 29 per cent slump in the US
