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Beyond the early adopters: The next wave of battery electric passenger car adoption is going global

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Beyond the early adopters: The next wave of battery electric passenger car adoption is going global

For the past decade, the prevailing assumption has been that large, wealthy, vehicle-producing markets such as Europe, the United States, and China would lead the transition to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), with emerging markets following several years behind.

But if you haven’t been watching closely, you may have missed how this story is being flipped on its head. Preliminary data for the first half of 2026 show that some of the fastest BEV uptake is happening well outside the more established automotive markets.

Some of the strongest evidence comes from Southeast Asia, where several countries are now posting BEV adoption rates that rival or exceed those in some of the leading markets.

One is Vietnam. In the first half of 2026, the country reached a BEV share of 44% in new passenger car sales, meaning nearly one in two new cars sold was fully electric. That placed the country 5th globally among the 55 markets with available data for both new BEV and total passenger car sales.

Among other emerging markets, Thailand ranked 8th with a 41% BEV share, Indonesia 22nd with 21%, and Colombia 26th with 16%.

Data from EV Volumes, Dataforce, Gasgoo, Segment Y, TAIA, ODMD, ANDEMOS, FENABRAVE, ANAC, VAMA, Hyundai, and GAIKINDO.

Note: Hover over countries to view data for 2023, 2024, 2025, and the first half of 2026. Color shading reflects the share of BEVs in new passenger car sales in the first half of 2026; countries with no available data are shown in grey; square sizes reflect each country’s population.


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