ICCT: EVs account for 25% of new car sales between 2024 and H1 2025 – EV Infrastructure News
The ICCT’s ‘Vision 2025’ report notes that the global average percentage of all vehicle sales for which EVs account has increased from 5% in 2025 to 25% in the first half of 2025.
January 30, 2026
EVs accounted for one-quarter of new car sales between 2024 and the first half of 2025, but these sales figures will not drive the reduction in carbon emissions necessary to meet the 2050 Paris climate goals.
These are some of the key conclusions drawn by the fourth, and latest, edition of ‘Vision 2025’, an annual analysis of the global zero-emission vehicle transition, published by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). The report notes that the global average percentage of all vehicle sales for which EVs account has increased from 5% in 2025 to 25% in the first half of 2025, the most recent period for which the report covers.
Vietnam saw the fastest growth rate between 2024 and the first half of 2025. Image: ICCT
The report also highlights that this trend differs considerably from one region to another. China, unsurprisingly, led the world in EV sales percentage, with 48% in the first half of 2025, while the UK accounted for the second-highest percentage at the end of 2024, with 28%. These are the top two grey, unmarked lines in the graph. However, the UK has since seen its percentage overtaken by Vietnam and Thailand, which have seen their EV sales percentage jump to 40% and 28%, respectively, by the first half of 2025, as shown in the graph above.
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These strong growth figures from what the ICCT calls “emerging economies” contrast with much slower growth, or even a status quo, in larger economies. Between the end of 2024 and the first half of 2025, the EV sales percentage in the US plateaued at 10%, while the percentage in India increased only marginally from 2% to 3%.
The report also provides three forecasts for the future of the transportation sector, in terms of carbon emissions: a “Baseline” scenario that assesses the impacts of policies in place as of August 2025, a “Momentum” scenario that includes non-binding EV targets and proposed policies and an “Ambitious” scenario that is aligned with the targets set by the Paris Agreement.
The impacts of following these frameworks are made clear in the report; the Baseline scenario is expected to deliver carbon dioxide emissions of around 7,000 million tonnes (MT) by 2050, down from around 8,000MT today; the Momentum scenario will see emissions fall below 6,000MT and the Ambitious scenario will see emissions plunge below 2,000MT.
While the projected decline in total emissions is encouraging, the sheer scale of the difference between the Baseline and Momentum scenarios, versus the Ambitious scenario, demonstrates the work that still must be done to meet the 2050 climate goals. Indeed, realising the Momentum scenario would deliver just 40% of the cuts in emission production needed to meet the Ambitious scenario, and the report goes on to point out that the gap between the 2050 targets and real-world emissions and reductions “persists and widens over time, especially for heavy-duty vehicles”.
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The report notes that supportive policies adopted in the last four years have “significantly reduced” projected carbon dioxide emissions, and suggests that greater policy support will be necessary to realise the more ambitious end of the emissions reduction targets. The ICCT points to the UK, in particular, as a country with strong policy support for the EV sector, with policies such as the ZEV mandate being hailed as among “the most forward-looking EV policies globally” by Zapmap co-founder and CEO Melanie Shufflebotham.
The ICCT also notes that supportive policy proposals are in place in countries such as Vietnam and Mexico, which have already seen considerable growth in new EV sales, and this contrasts with the policy landscape in the US, in particular.
While industry figures expressed optimism that private investment has helped plug the gaps left by the Trump administration’s suspension of the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) programme, a lack of federal support for crucial EV infrastructure is a significant obstacle to the expansion of the US EV sector in particular, and the energy transition more broadly.
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The US is currently more than twice as far from the Paris trajectory as the EU and UK. Image: ICCT.
This disparity is reflected in the ICCT graph above, which shows how close several key countries and regions are to meeting the emissions reduction trajectory needed to meet the Paris goals. While the positive policy environments of the UK, Mexico and Vietnam have pushed each of these countries closer to the Paris trajectory than the global average of 40%—with a trajectory of 90%, 67% and 58%, respectively—the US is just 14% of the way to meeting the Paris trajectory.
Indeed, the report notes that the US is a notable “outlier” in the energy transition, in that its proposed EV policy rollbacks mean the future policy landscape is less positive than in the past; put simply, “its Momentum scenario projects higher emissions than its baseline”.
“A substantial ambition gap with Paris Agreement goals persists, especially for heavy-duty trucks,” concludes the report, highlighting how disparity in policy will have disparate effects on different parts of the EV sector.
“Closing this ambition gap will require converting the strong pipeline of proposals and non-binding EV targets into binding policies, expanding standards to cover all vehicle categories, and accelerating the rapid passenger EV growth seen in emerging markets.”
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