Global EV sales climb 8% as Europe jumps 49% and North America finally grows

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence puts October's global EV haul at 2.09 million units, a 3% dip from September but an 8% rise from a year earlier. Through the first 10 months of 2026, worldwide sales hit 17.5 million, up 5%. The tally covers both battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids across passenger cars and light-duty vehicles.

Europe did the heavy lifting with 510,000 EVs sold, up 36% year over year. Fully electric cars carried that: BEV sales rose 49% while plug-in hybrids managed 7%. The region has now moved 4.5 million EVs in 2026, and October's pace beat its 31% growth for the year so far. Volume slipped 17% from September's record, a month inflated by the UK's twice-yearly registration plate change.

Germany's EV share blew past 45% of new car sales, its best since December 2022 — a peak driven back then by buyers racing subsidy cuts. German BEV sales climbed almost 80% to more than 95,000. The UK rose 30%, notable because its Electric Car Grant already existed in October 2025, and Portugal hit 55% EV share of new car sales.

North America posted 130,000 EVs, up 24% year over year and its first annual increase of 2026. Sales were flat versus September, and the year-to-date decline tightened to 21% from 24% a month earlier, with 1.3 million sold so far. US sales landed around 110,000 units. The catch: the federal tax credit expired for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025, so October 2025 was a collapse — and October 2026 is measured against it. "October is the first month compared against a period without the US federal tax credit, and the US market has stabilized at a lower level rather than recovered," said Benchmark data manager Charles Lester.

China sold 1.14 million EVs, up 5% from September but down 12% year over year — an improvement on September's 18% drop. Year-to-date sales reached 9.1 million, down 11%, versus a 13% decline at the end of September. EV share of China's new car market still hit a fresh high, because the broader passenger car market is shrinking faster. Chinese new energy vehicle exports hit nearly 600,000 in October, a monthly record up from 558,000, even as the EU agreed to cap imports of Chinese-built hybrids and China prepares to lower its EV export VAT rebate to 9% on April 1, 2027, from 13% now.

Everywhere else, sales jumped 85% year over year to 300,000, bringing those markets to 2.6 million EVs in 2026, up 93%. Australia's October sales rose more than 200%, though Benchmark says more brands — many Chinese — are splitting sales and squeezing dealer margins. Brazil's boom rests on shakier ground: importers front-loaded ahead of phased tariff hikes, a fuel crisis pushed buyers toward EVs, and BYD ramped production at its Brazilian factory. Benchmark expects those drivers to fade, leaving BYD's local output — which will also supply Argentina and Mexico — as the main support.