High Fuel Prices Drive Record Electrified Car Sales in Europe in March

Reuters reported on April 13, 2026 that high wartime petrol prices in Europe steered car buyers towards BEVs (battery electric vehicles) and PHEVs (plug-in hybrids) in a record-beating March, driving the first month of global electrified sales growth this year, according to data from consultancy Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI).

Governments worldwide have capped fuel prices to shield motorists from soaring costs after the war in Iran, which erupted on Feb. 28, disrupted a key shipping route carrying about 20% of global oil supplies. BMI said registrations, a proxy for sales, of new battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars rose 3% year on year globally to over 1.7 million, with a 37% jump in Europe to a monthly all-time high in March of almost 540,000 electrified vehicles sold.

While car registrations lag sales, “there is a good portion of this that you can put down to the rise in petrol prices,” said BMI data manager Charles Lester.

Growth was strongest in countries that saw the sharpest increases in energy prices, including Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam and Thailand, which together drove a 79% rise in electrified registrations outside the three main markets of China, Europe and North America, Lester added.

New electric cars now cheaper than petrol on average in UK for the first time, says Autotrader

New EVs are now, on average, cheaper to buy than petrol models for the first time, according to the latest data from Autotrader, the UK’s biggest automotive marketplace. Based on advertised prices after discounts, the average new EV has undercut the average new petrol car across the retail market, driven by government grants and sustained manufacturer discounting.

The trend has become more pronounced in April, with the average new electric car priced at £42,620 compared with £43,405 for a new petrol model, a £785 difference in favor of electric.

After reaching a record high in March (12.8%), average discounts on new EVs eased slightly to 11.7% in April following the key plate-change month. While lower than March’s peak, discounting on electric cars remains historically high and continues to help close the price gap with petrol models.

Chinese-made vehicles account for more than half of the top 10 models

Across the wider new car market, Volkswagen’s Golf (3.4%) continued its strong run, topping the rankings for the third consecutive month, ahead of the Jaecoo 7 (3.1%) and the Land Rover Defender 110 (2.4%).

Chinese models continue to make notable headway, with the Jaecoo 7, MG S9, Omoda 5, Chery Tiggo and MG HS all featuring in the top ten most in-demand models.

EVinfo.net’s Take: America Is Handing Europe and China the Keys to the EV Future

While the rest of the world races to dominate the fastest-growing sector in automotive history, the United States is busy hitting the brakes. A string of regressive policy decisions out of Washington is not just slowing America’s EV transition. It is actively gifting market leadership to China and Europe at the precise moment the competition is heating up.

Instead of accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels, the U.S. administration is foolishly loosening incentives and standards that protect public health and the climate. These decisions are not minor regulatory adjustments. They will increase harmful smog, worsen air pollution, undermine climate progress, and cost drivers more money over time.

The numbers tell a stark story. China continues to flood global markets with competitively priced electric models, with Chinese-made cars now routinely dominating consumer interest rankings from the UK to Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, in the US, policy is moving in reverse.

Reuters reported that In North America, EV registrations fell by ​30% to ⁠121,500 vehicles sold in the month, the sixth consecutive year-on-year drop after the foolish end of the EV tax credit in the United States and foolish proposals by ⁠the administration to further cut CO2 emission standards.

But the freefall may be stabilizing. EVinfo.net reported that Kelley Blue Book data shows Q1 sales were only 7.8% lower than Q4 2025, and EVs held steady at 5.8% of all new car sales, unchanged from the prior quarter. For context, EVs peaked at 10.6% market share in Q3 2025 at the height of the credit rush.

“It ​has been its highest monthly figure since the tax credit ended, but the reality is the pullbacks ​have happened”, Lester said.

Rolling Back the Race

The current administration has systematically dismantled the incentive architecture that was beginning to shift American consumers toward electric vehicles. Federal EV tax credits, which had started to meaningfully close the affordability gap, were suddenly and foolishly cut. Fuel economy standards are being loosened. The EPA’s ability to regulate vehicle emissions is under assault. And the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s EV charging network funding, one of the few genuinely forward-looking elements of America’s EV strategy, faces cuts and delays that threaten to leave the country’s charging infrastructure years behind where it needs to be.

The Competition Is Not Waiting

China is not debating whether to transition to EVs. It already has. Chinese manufacturers have spent years building efficient, affordable electric vehicles for domestic and export markets, and they are reaping the rewards. Brands like BYD, MG and a fast-expanding roster of newcomers are now household names in markets that American automakers are barely competing in.

Europe, meanwhile, has paired high petrol prices with sustained government support for EVs, making the economic case for going electric increasingly difficult to argue with. The average new EV in the UK now costs less than the average new petrol car. European governments made deliberate policy choices to get there. The US is making equally deliberate and foolish choices to move in the opposite direction.

The Automakers Are Watching

Detroit is caught in a difficult position. Ford, GM and Stellantis have all made significant EV commitments and investments, but those bets were placed in a policy environment that no longer exists. Most manufacturers are already pulling back on production targets and delaying new electric models. The risk is a self-fulfilling prophecy: reduced ambition leads to less competitive products, which leads to weaker sales, which becomes the justification for even less investment.

What Falling Behind Actually Means

This is not just an environmental argument, though the climate consequences of a delayed American EV transition are serious enough on their own. This is an economic and industrial argument. The EV supply chain, from battery manufacturing to software to raw materials processing, represents one of the defining industrial competitions of the coming decades. The countries that build that infrastructure now will hold the advantages for a generation. Jobs, patents, manufacturing capacity and export revenue all flow toward the leaders.

The irony is brutal. The administration rolling back EV policy tends to frame its decisions as protecting American industry and workers. But ceding the EV market to foreign competitors is precisely the opposite of that. It is a slow-motion act of industrial surrender, dressed up as common sense. These administration mistakes will cause vast economic damage if not rolled back soon.

The keys to the future of the car are being handed over. The question is whether anyone in Washington is paying attention.