Plugin vehicle registrations were down 11% year over year (YoY) in February, ending the month close to 1.1 million units. Both BEVs (-8% YoY) and PHEVs (-16% YoY) had sales drops. This is the worst drop since the COVID-19 era, but there is one easy explanation for this — incentives. Or the end of them.
The end of US incentives last October, added to the partial removal of incentives in China at the end of 2025, had an expected impact, as these are the 3rd and 1st largest EV markets, respectively.
Actually, if we remove China and the USA from the tally, EVs have jumped 36% YoY globally, with BEVs growing slightly faster (+39%) than PHEVs (+30%).
Just because certain media-friendly markets are down, that doesn’t mean that all markets are down.
So, Keep Calm and Carry On, the EV Revolution is in good health, and with what is happening in the Middle East, ICE sales are going to melt faster, to the profit of plugins.
Share-wise, February saw BEVs end the month at 11% share, with the tally increasing to 16% if we add in PHEVs. This performance pushed the 2026 plugin share slightly downward, because while BEVs kept their share at 12%, plugin hybrids lost one percentage point, going from 6% in January to their current 5% share. Therefore, the 2026 PEV share was at 17%.
For reference, 2025 market share ended with BEVs at 17% share and all plugin vehicles combined at 26%. Although we are still far from those results, comparing where we are now to where we were twelve months ago, the difference is much smaller (13% BEV share then vs. 12% now), so I am expecting that the second half of the year will bring robust growth again, with BEVs probably north of the 20% share barrier by the end of the year.
With the domestic market of Chinese OEMs suffering from the loss of incentives, and linked to the long holidays of the Spring Festival, the Chinese EV market became less dominant globally, dropping to 43% of global sales, its lowest share in years. And that shows in the top 20….
by ApprehensiveSize7662
