High oil prices, subsidies and affordable models rev up European EV sales

By Nick Carey

LETCHWORTH, England, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Electric vehicle sales accelerated across much of Europe in July, as high oil prices, subsidies and availability of more affordable models encouraged consumers to ditch their combustion-engine cars, data provided to Reuters showed.

EV sales have soared across Europe since the Iran war began in February and caused pain at the pump. The big question for many in the auto industry is whether consumer interest will fade if and when oil prices retreat, while a lack of public charging options remains a major concern.

"People are looking for ways to protect themselves from volatility in fuel prices and EVs are a great way to do that," Renault UK managing director Adam Wood told Reuters at the French automaker's dealership in Letchworth, 40 miles (64 km) north of London.

"We're at a tipping point where EVs ... are part of the mainstream."

Two years ago, just 10% of Renault's UK sales were electric. By contrast, in July this year EVs made up more than 50% of the company's orders and the Renault 5 - a revived version of the top-selling Renault model originally launched in 1972 - was last month Britain's best-selling electric car, its original boxy shape having evolved into a more curvy design offering what Renault's website says is a range of up to 250 miles.

Later this year Renault will also start selling the electric Twingo, which will start at less than £20,000 ($26,984) — before a possible UK government subsidy for which Renault hopes to qualify.

'NO CHANCE OF ME GOING BACK'

Charlotte Merrell, 32, just bought an electric Renault Megane, her first EV. She said charging at home costs a little more than £1 versus £60 for her previous combustion-engine model.

Buying an EV was "the best decision I ever made," Merrell said. "There's no chance of me going back."

According to industry data, EV sales in the European Union rose 40.5% in the first half of the year versus the same period in 2025 to more than 1.2 million cars, accounting for 20.7% of all sales.

Data provided to Reuters by research group New Automotive and industry group E-Mobility Europe ⁠show EV registrations rose 13% year-on-year in July across 16 markets covering more than 90% of car sales in the EU and European ​Free Trade Association.

That means EVs made up 25.7% of all new car sales in those markets.

ONLINE SEARCHES

Others have found a similar trend.

Amsterdam-based online marketplace OLX said since the Iran war began, customer enquiries for EVs had jumped across its online car marketplaces in France (84%), Romania (59%), Portugal (30%) and Poland (19%). Chinese brands known for affordable models make up a growing portion of EV listings, it said.

"People are getting far more confident around this new technology," said OLX CEO Christian Gisy.

In a late July poll of 1,000 users by German online marketplace Carwow, 62% of respondents said switching to an EV is the best long-term response to persistently high fuel costs.

ACCELERATING THE TRANSITION

In Europe, traditional automakers and Chinese rivals alike have launched a growing number of more affordable models that are also supported by subsidies.

In the year through July, 29% of new cars in France were EVs. And in July alone, EVs accounted for a record 35% of new car registrations, versus 17% a year before, as the country's "social leasing" EV subsidies program for lower-income car buyers kicked in.

Marie-Laure Nivot, head of automotive market analysis at research firm AAA DATA, said the program "creates an environment that accelerates the transition" to EVs.

DIFFERENT TRENDS AND EV OBSTACLES

It's a somewhat different picture in the U.S., where the Trump administration killed a federal EV tax break last year. So although second-quarter EV sales rose 15% versus the first quarter, they fell more than 20% year-on-year.

Cox Automotive projects U.S. EV sales will fall 23% this year versus 2025, for a market share of just 6.2%, also reflecting a lack of affordable models.

A dearth of public charging remains an obstacle to EV ownership for millions of Europeans who live in apartments, an issue that needs to be addressed for sales to keep growing, Ian Henry of consultancy AutoAnalysis said.

"We could be near a saturation point because there are people who might want to go electric, but can't."

($1 = 0.7412 pounds)

(Reporting By Nick Carey; Additional reporting by Gilles Guillaume in Paris, Kalea Hall in Detroit and Christina Amman in Berlin; Editing by Christoph Steitz and David Holmes)