Record number of electric car registrations in first 9 months of year

Global electric vehicle registrations continued to rise in the first nine months of the year, according to a study by consultancy PwC covering major markets.

A record high of around 11 million fully battery-powered electric vehicles, or BEVs, were newly registered in the first nine months of 2026, up 12% from the same period last year.

Europe is the key driver of growth, the study found. Since the beginning of the year, 2.5 million electric cars have been sold there, an increase of 42% compared to the previous year.

In Germany, there were 604,000 new electric car registrations, 58% more than in the same period last year. This puts Germany in third place worldwide, with a shrinking gap to second place, the US.

Electric vehicle registrations declined in the United States. Around 746,000 BEVs were registered in the first nine months of the year, down 29% from the same period in 2025. 

In China, the pace has slowed. The world's largest electric vehicle market has stagnated to around 6 million BEVs, according to PwC.