Europe’s EV sales soar as North America drops 44% – here’s the catch

Electric vehicle sales are moving in very different directions depending on where you live, according to new global sales data. In Europe, EV sales hit a record nearly 600,000 vehicles in September, up 39% from a year earlier, with the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, and Finland all posting their best months ever. Battery electric vehicles (fully electric, no gas engine) drove most of that growth. In North America, EV sales fell 44% year over year to around 130,000. That drop looks dramatic, but it's being compared against September 2025, when buyers rushed to purchase EVs before the federal $7,500 tax credit expired. Analysts expect the year-over-year comparisons to look less harsh in the coming months, though that doesn't mean sales are actually recovering.

China remains the largest EV market by far, but its sales fell 18% year over year in September, partly because plug-in hybrid sales have weakened. Chinese automakers have responded by exporting more vehicles overseas, hitting a record in September. That export push could get harder next year: the European Union and China have a tentative deal to cap imports of Chinese-built EVs starting in 2027, and China plans to cut a tax rebate for exporters in April 2027.

None of this changes what rebates or incentives are available where you live right now, but it's a sign that the US EV market is behaving differently than the rest of the world, and that federal incentive changes are still shaping what's for sale and how it's priced here.