Electric Vehicle Adoption: The West Cannot Seem to Keep Up

The Global South is switching to EVs faster than many expected

- David Fickling

Here's a comforting story that oil bulls like to tell themselves to stave off climate action worries: While a privileged few in Europe and California might have lost their minds over electric vehicles (EVs), billions in the Global South are readying themselves to provide the next wave of petroleum demand. Those who believe this might want to take a look at the cars and two-wheelers that people are actually buying right now. Far from trailing the rich world in their enthusiasm for battery cars, developing nations are surging ahead.

China, where plug-in vehicles have nearly half the market, gets most of the world's attention, but neighboring Vietnam isn't far behind: Pure-play EV-maker VinFast Auto accounted for more than a third of car sales in the first half of this year. Turkey's 13% sales share for pure-EVs in the first quarter was about double the penetration rate in Spain and Australia, according to a survey by Strategy&. In Indonesia, the share was about the same as in the US, at 7.4%. In Malaysia, it was 8.6% in the first half of the year.