Global EV Outlook 2026: one in four new cars is electric

#2025 in numbers

The International Energy Agency published its Global EV Outlook 2026 in May 2026. The headline figures:

Europe recorded the strongest growth of the major markets, with sales up more than 30%.

#The fastest-moving regions

Growth is spreading beyond the three large markets.

• Southeast Asia. EV sales more than doubled in 2025 to close to a 20% market share, led by Viet Nam, Indonesia and Thailand. Viet Nam, the region’s largest EV market, has announced plans to expand or extend tax incentives. The IEA projects the region’s electric share could rise up to three times by 2035, with Viet Nam above 80%.
• Asia Pacific excluding China. Sales grew about 80% in the first quarter of 2026.
• Latin America. Sales grew about 75% in the first quarter of 2026.

China is the main supplier to these markets: in countries outside Europe and the United States, imports from China accounted for 55% of electric car sales in 2025, against under 5% five years earlier.

#Trucks

Electric truck sales more than doubled in 2025 and reached nearly one in ten trucks sold worldwide, led by China. Heavy vehicles need high-power DC charging, which raises demand for chargers in the hundreds of kilowatts.

#2026: growth with a dip

The IEA expects around 23 million electric car sales in 2026, or 28% of the market. The year started weaker: global sales in the first quarter, at around 3.9 million, were 8% lower than a year earlier, mainly because of policy changes in China and the United States.

#What it means for charger makers

• Market access is now the bottleneck. Each new market has its own rules: TR 25 in Singapore, conformity rules in Vietnam, KC in Korea, CE and AFIR in Europe. Plan certification per market, not per product.
• Power ratings keep rising. Truck charging and fast-charging corridors push DC chargers to higher power, which raises the bar for safety, EMC and grid-connection tests.
• Evidence travels. A test plan built on IEC 61851 and IEC 61000 can be reused across many of these markets, with local deviations added.

Our partner laboratory network supports charger certification for these markets, with 3.75 MW of test power and a 10 m EMC chamber rated for 2.5 MW AC/DC.