High Gas Prices Are Boosting EV Sales Around The World. Will The U.S. Be Left Out?

EV sales are going through the roof in Europe and Asia, driven by high gas prices. America's EV market is on shakier ground.

Ford F-150 Lightning

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Tim Levin

By: Tim Levin

Apr 19, at 11:23am ET

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High gas prices are boosting EV sales around the world.
March was a record month for EVs in Europe, and sales are booming in Asia and Australia too, industry analysts say.
There's more interest in electric the U.S. too, but it comes amid slumping sales as carmakers pull back their electric plans.

The March sales numbers are in, and it's becoming clear that higher gas prices are already changing the equation for EV shoppers around the globe. But the shift isn't playing out in the same way everywhere.

"We see from basically every indicator we can find that people are more interested than ever in EVs," Colin McKerracher, the head of clean transport at BloombergNEF, told me. "And in the places where that supply is available, primarily from the Chinese automakers, to meet that demand, sales are going through the roof."

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Southeast Asia and Australia are great examples, he said, as regions that have lots of Chinese EVs on offer and are highly dependent on oil coming out of the Persian Gulf.

Singapore-based investor and energy researcher Alex Turnbull has been calling dealers selling BYDs and the like around Asia, he said on the "Odd Lots" podcast this week. They are telling him EV supply is down to single days and some cars are backordered, he said, amid a "staggering acceleration in EV adoption."

In Europe, March was a record month for sales of both pure EVs and plug-in hybrids, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Sales of plug-in vehicles rose 72% month over month and 37% year over year, the firm said, buoyed by both new government subsidies and rising fuel prices.

Contrast all of that with what’s happening in the United States. Gas prices have soared above four bucks a gallon nationwide, but a severe pullback from carmakers may have left the country’s EV market on the back foot at precisely the wrong time.

"I'm a bit concerned for the U.S. market," McKerracher said, "in the sense that we may be at the point where something is really pushing consumer demand, but there isn't the supply to respond due to canceled models and a general pullback from the automakers."

Car companies have reacted to the policy whiplash wrought by the Trump administration and Congress by yanking electric models left and right. In the first quarter, U.S. EV sales fell by 27% year over year and by 8% from Q4, according to Cox Automotive. In March, North American plug-in car registrations landed at 121,500 units, according to Benchmark data cited by Reuters. That's the highest monthly figure since the EV tax credit ended prematurely in September, but also a 30% drop from March of 2025 and the sixth month in a row of year-over-year declines. As EVs see strong growth around the world, the U.S. is behind and struggling to keep pace.

There are signs that the fuel shock is making its mark on American consumers. Vehicle marketplaces like Cars.com and Edmunds have reported sharp increases in searches for EVs. Hyundai's CEO said the company saw a 40% jump in electric sales from February to March.

But shoppers on the fence will see fewer new electric options to choose from at dealerships than they otherwise would have. In recent months, car companies have shifted focus toward combustion vehicles and canceled numerous battery-powered models. The Volvo EX30, Acura ZDX, and Ford F-150 Lightning are all gone, to name a few. Three planned models from Honda were pulled at the last minute.

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And at the end of the day, McKerracher said, "consumers can’t buy a car they can't find."

Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com

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