Global EV sales rise 8% in October as Europe's BEV sales jump 49%

The world bought 2.09 million electric vehicles in October 2026, 8% more than a year earlier and 3% fewer than in September, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence reported on November 12. That brings sales for the year to date to 17.5 million, up 5% on the same period of 2025. The figures count battery-electric cars and plug-in hybrids in the passenger car and light-duty vehicle market.

Europe's growth kept building. It sold 510,000 EVs, up 36% year on year and down 17% from September's all-time high, which the UK's September registration plate change had inflated. Battery-electric sales rose 49% while plug-in hybrids managed 7%, and the region's year-to-date growth edged up to 31%. EVs took more than 45% of Germany's new-car market, the highest share since December 2022, the month buyers rushed in ahead of subsidy cuts (battery-electric cars alone took a record 37% of German registrations). UK EV sales grew 30% against an October 2025 base that already had the Electric Car Grant.

North America grew year on year for the first time in 2026, up 24% to 130,000 and flat on September, with the year-to-date decline narrowing to 21% from 24%. In its September report Benchmark expected the region's declines to narrow significantly; they flipped to growth instead, mostly thanks to the denominator. October is the first month compared against a period without the US federal tax credit, which expired at the end of September 2025. US sales of around 110,000 have, in Benchmark data manager Charles Lester's words, "stabilised at a lower level rather than recovered."

China's year-on-year decline narrowed to 12% from 18% in September, on sales of 1.14 million, up 5% month on month and down 11% for the year to date. Passenger car NEV exports set another monthly record at almost 600,000, up from 558,000. The industry association's count of the same month points the other way: CAAM's NEV sales rose 13.1%, a total that counts exports alongside domestic sales, while its domestic NEV sales fell 8.6%. Outside the three big regions, sales rose 85% to 300,000.