Following a subdued start to the year, sales of electric vehicles (EVs) jumped in the second quarter after the Middle East crisis slashed crude supply and hiked oil and fuel prices, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report on Thursday.
Global sales of electric cars fell in the first quarter of 2026, largely reflecting lower sales in the United States and China, according to the agency’s report ‘Electric Car Markets in a Time of Uncertainty’.
However, EV sales rebounded sharply in the second quarter, rising by 35% compared with the first quarter “as the energy crisis sparked by the war in the Middle East brought fuel price volatility back into sharp focus,” the IEA said.
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EV sales in the second quarter reached record-high levels in 50 countries as drivers preferred electric vehicles amid soaring fuel prices.
In sizable car markets such as Brazil, India, Australia, and Vietnam, electric car sales roughly doubled between March and June compared with the same period in 2025, according to the IEA’s analysis in the report.
As many as 90 countries saw annual growth in EV sales in the first half of the year.
As a result of the surge in the second-quarter sales, electric car sales in the first half of 2026 were only slightly lower than in the first half of last year, as the jump in second quarter sales almost entirely offset the first-quarter decline.
The momentum in EV sales due to the oil price shock is set to boost electric car sales to a 29% share of total car sales worldwide in 2026, one percentage point higher than the 28% IEA expected in the Global EV Outlook 2026 in May.
In the May report, the agency projected that global EV sales are set to reach 23 million globally in 2026, as surging fuel prices encourage more drivers to switch to electric vehicles.
“Looking ahead, the falls we have seen in battery prices and the potential policy responses to the current global energy crisis are set to provide further momentum in EV markets,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said at the time.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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