It’s a bleak time for America’s electric car market. But zoom out and take a look at what’s happening in the rest of the world, and you quickly see that the U.S. is increasingly the odd one out. As the U.S. stagnates, the EV project is chugging along nicely pretty much everywhere else, according to a new, wide-ranging report out this week from the International Energy Agency. 

Over 20 million plug-in cars were sold globally last year, including both plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles. That means 25% of new vehicles had a plug, a new record. About 5% of the global car fleet is now electrified. 

The IEA expects sales of EVs and PHEVs to keep growing this year—just not in America.

Photo by: Tim Levin/InsideEVs

The U.S. was far behind the average, with plug-in car sales coming in below 10% of the market. EV sales in the U.S. plunged in the fourth quarter and are likely to drop this year as car companies pull back production and as the loss of the $7,500 tax credit dings demand. It’s full-speed ahead in other regions, though: 

• In China, 13.2 million plug-in cars were sold last year, representing 53% of that market. 
• In Europe, sales jumped by 30% to over 4 million units, or 28% of sales. 

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Something remarkable is happening outside of the top three car markets, in what the IEA calls “emerging markets and developing economies.” Last year, these smaller markets saw plug-in car sales boom by 80%. An influx of affordable Chinese cars is supercharging the electrified market in these countries, helping them lap the United States in EV adoption.

In the U.S., the IEA says, the plug-in share of the car market grew from 2% in 2020 to 10% in 2025. Compare that to the kind of growth that’s happening across smaller markets in Southeast Asia and Latin America. 

• In Nepal, over the same period, plug-in car sales went from 10% to 68%. 
• In Thailand, they went from 1% to 23%. 
• In Turkey, they exploded from 0% of the market to 22%. 
• Plug-in car sales tripled in Mexico last year, with 85% of sales coming from Chinese imports. 

The global growth story should continue, the IEA says. This year, plug-in sales should surpass 23 million and make up nearly 30% of the car market worldwide. That’s despite a slump in the States.

BYD Seagull

Photo by: Kevin Williams/InsideEVs

Here are some other trends and tidbits that caught my eye from this report: 

• Although 630 EV models were on sale last year, just five—the Tesla Model Y, Tesla Model 3, Geely Geome Xingyuan, Wuling HongGuang Mini, and BYD Seagull—captured 20% of the market. 
• The average EV range has plateaued at 236 miles. 
• EV pricing continues to be vastly different across markets, and that directly translates to sales. In China, around 30% of EVs were available for under $20,000. In the U.S., fewer than 20% of EVs could be had for $40,000 or less, compared with more than 40% of combustion models. 
• But pricing is getting better in America, too, as automakers cut MSRPs. In 2025, there were nearly 20 EV models that cost less than $40,000, compared to fewer than 15 the year before. 
• China continues to dump money into its EV project as the U.S. pulls back. In 2025, it spent over $35 billion supporting plug-in car sales, while the U.S. spent $5.2 billion and Europe spent over $10 billion. 
• Electric truck sales doubled last year to over 400,000 units, with most of that growth happening in China. 

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Bottom line: Progress is still happening—and rapidly, depending on where you look. It’s just a question of whether the U.S. is willing to be left out. 

Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com

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