The Developing World is ‘Lapping the U.S.’ in EV Sales
I first visited northern India 20 years ago, and I was shocked by the cutting-edge sustainability technology already used in even the smallest farming villages. I learned that when you need to ship every gallon of diesel fuel over the Himalayas, it’s much cheaper to buy solar panels than a generator. So it’s unsurprising that the “developing world” is now leading the West in electric car adoption.
Robbie Andrew is a scientist at the Cicero research center in Oslo who tracks EV sales. He recently told The Guardian, “We’re seeing growth in the EV market in more countries now…In developing countries, this is largely about the recent arrival of much cheaper models from China. The Chinese companies have innovated extraordinarily quickly.”
Solar panels are literally a fraction of the price they were 20 years ago. Solar power is now cheaper than burning coal. The result is that many countries still building out their electrical grids are going solar, and saving money. And in addition to Chinese solar panels, they’re buying Chinese EVs. With rising petroleum costs, this new mobility solution is a win-win.
EV sales in the developing world, by the numbers
Chinese EV exports to the non-OECD countries—and Mexico—have tripled in just two years. EVs have as large a market share in Turkey as in Europe. Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam have all overtaken the E.U. in their EV uptake. India and Brazil have overtaken Japan in EV uptake. And Ethiopia banned imported combustion cars in 2024. EVs made up 25% of global car sales by 2025. In the U.S., that number fell to 10%. As the Yale Climate Connection wrote, “The rest of the world is lapping the U.S. in the EV race.”
Why? Perhaps because there’s no economic pressure for U.S. drivers to switch. The United States has been insulated from rising petroleum prices because the nation buys in bulk and keeps the cost per gallon far below what most of the world pays. In the past year, we’ve seen a major reversal of EV strategy at the Detroit Three. Every automaker canceled big electrification projects and closed EV factories. I genuinely don’t know what EV adoption in the U.S. will look like in the next ten years. But I know that for North America to continue exporting cars, we’ll need to develop small, cheap EVs.
What would that even look like? Here’s just one example. Stellantis recently closed the Ontario plant which once made Chryslers and Dodges for the U.S., to reduce tariff costs. The CEO says they want to find some way to reopen the plant. So why not assemble the inexpensive ë-C3 EVs that sub-brand Citroën already engineered for the European market—then ship them to Central and South America? Stellantis could even retool its Mexico factories for the same project.
