Global EV Sales Top 9.4 Million in H1 2026, ICCT Finds

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes · Last updated: 28 October 2026

Global EV sales passed 9.4 million in the first half of 2026, close to one in four light-duty vehicles sold worldwide, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). The ICCT's H1 2026 market monitor, written by researchers Ilma Fadhil, Dale Hall and Xingyi Li, finds that growth was uneven. China crossed the halfway line at 51% of light-duty sales and Europe climbed to 31%. The United States slipped to roughly 7%, two points below its 2025 level, and India edged up to 5%. The strongest momentum came from emerging markets, led by Vietnam at 44%, and from the Philippines, where the EV share more than doubled as cheaper Chinese models and tax breaks arrived.

China Passes Half While Europe Leans Harder Into BEVs

In China, electric vehicles made up 51% of all light-duty sales in H1 2026, the ICCT reports. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs), which run on stored electricity alone, accounted for 68% of the country's EV sales, compared with 64% in 2025. Chinese buyers are therefore not only adopting EVs in the majority, they are also moving further toward fully electric models.

Europe sits well behind China but kept climbing. EVs took 31% of new light-duty sales there in the first half, up from 27% in 2025. BEVs held 69% of the European EV mix, a little above their share in both 2025 and 2024.

The ICCT found that every major manufacturer in Europe sold a larger share of BEVs than of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), with Jaguar Land Rover the one exception. A PHEV pairs a rechargeable battery with a combustion engine. That almost every big brand now tilts toward the fully electric option suggests European product plans have largely settled on that path.

Why the US Fell Back as India Inched Forward

The United States moved in the opposite direction. Approximately 7% of new light-duty vehicles sold there in H1 2026 were electric, 2 percentage points lower than in 2025. The ICCT links the drop to legacy manufacturers, many of which sold fewer EVs and saw EVs shrink as a portion of their overall sales.

The researchers attribute this to a change in near-term strategy, with those carmakers now planning around a broader range of powertrains. The monitor does not separate how much of the fall comes from pricing, policy or product decisions, and that question remains open.

India grew slowly from a low base. Roughly 146,000 EVs were sold in H1 2026, equal to 5% of new light-duty sales and 1 percentage point above 2025. Mahindra and Tata Motors each reached an 8% EV share of their own sales, and together they supplied more than half of all EVs sold in the country.

Foreign brands with large Indian footprints barely registered. Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Suzuki and VW Group each posted EV sales shares between 0.3% and 0.8%, leaving the domestic pair firmly in front.

Emerging Markets Outrun Europe, Supplied Mostly by China

Across the 11 emerging markets the ICCT tracks, the EV sales share rose 3 percentage points year on year in H1 2026. Vietnam again posted the top figure in the group at 44%, up from 37% in 2025, which put it ahead of Europe, the United States and India. Colombia came close to doubling its share, rising from 11% to 19%.

The type of EV differs sharply by country. BEVs made up nearly every EV sold in Vietnam and more than 90% of EV sales in Thailand, Türkiye and Indonesia. In Mexico and South Africa, by contrast, PHEVs claimed a larger portion of the EV mix.

Much of this growth runs on Chinese output. China produced roughly two-thirds of the world's EVs, slightly less than a year earlier, as Vietnam, Türkiye and Thailand stepped up their own manufacturing. China also supplied 84% of EV imports into the emerging markets studied, 72% of those into India and 65% of those into Europe.

How the Philippines More Than Doubled Its EV Share

The ICCT describes the Philippines as Southeast Asia's fourth-largest vehicle market and one of its fastest growing. Light-duty EV sales went from 219 units in 2021 to approximately 30,715 in H1 2026. The climb began in 2022, helped by zero-tariff and excise tax incentives and by lower-priced BEV and PHEV models from Chinese brands entering the country.

EVs reached 15% of new light-duty sales in H1 2026, against 7% for all of 2025. BEVs supplied 8% of total sales and PHEVs 7%. Hybrids (HEVs, both full and mild) also took 8%, and combustion vehicles made up the remaining 77%.

BYD dominated with 68% of EV sales, ahead of Tesla at 11% and VinFast at 9%. With Geely at 5% and Chery at 4%, the three Chinese brands together held about 77%. Toyota, Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz sold negligible numbers of EVs, preferring to expand hybrid ranges that qualify for their own, lower tier of incentives. The ICCT judges that higher fuel prices and tight domestic oil supply in 2026 likely pulled demand toward EVs rather than hybrids.

What the ₱60 Billion EVIS Program Offers Carmakers

The policy base dates to April 2022, when the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA; Republic Act 11697) was signed. It sets rules for EV adoption, charging, manufacturing, research and fleet conversion. The Comprehensive Roadmap for the Electric Vehicle Industry (CREVI) followed with non-binding interim targets to 2040, extended import tariff treatment for EVs, HEVs, e-motorcycles and parts, and kept a BEV excise tax measure in place through 2028.

On 29 July 2026, President Marcos signed Executive Order 121, creating the Electric Vehicle Incentive Strategy (EVIS). The fund is capped at ₱60 billion, approximately $954 million. Capital support covers up to 40% of investment for BEVs and their parts, and 30% for PHEVs and hybrids, plus production support worth up to 12% of a vehicle's ex-factory price.

Each registered model can draw up to ₱15 billion ($239 million). In return, a manufacturer must put in at least ₱5 billion ($80 million) of new investment and launch a locally built EV within 3 years. The ICCT notes trial production is expected to begin next year, with commercial output targeted before the 2028 elections. Because hybrids also qualify, EVIS rewards local assembly broadly rather than backing battery-only models alone.

What could push EV shares up or down

The bottom line

The H1 2026 data shows electrification spreading, but not evenly. China's majority share and Europe's steady climb set the pace among large markets, while the United States became the clear outlier by moving backwards. The more striking shift is in places such as Vietnam, Colombia and the Philippines, where affordable Chinese models met tax incentives and drove fast gains. That growth carries a dependency: China builds roughly two-thirds of the world's EVs and supplies most imports into the emerging markets the ICCT studied. Manila's EVIS program is an attempt to turn imported demand into domestic production. Whether trial output starts next year, as expected, will show whether that bet is on schedule.

What to watch

• Watch for trial vehicle production under the Philippines' EVIS program, which the ICCT says is expected to begin next year; no exact date has been set.
• Watch whether commercial EV manufacturing in the Philippines starts before the 2028 elections, the target cited alongside EVIS.
• Watch the end of the Philippine BEV excise tax extension, which runs through 2028, and whether it is renewed.