Electric cars surge worldwide but stall in the US

Electric cars are advancing worldwide, but they are stalling in the US

Of the 92.5 million vehicles manufactured worldwide each year, around 14.3 million are pure electric. That is 15.4% of global car production, according to figures cited in the debate. The number, however, hides a very uneven geography: China accounts for nearly 10.5 million of those vehicles, while in the United States the electric market share barely reaches 6% without government subsidies, according to participants. The gap between the global narrative and the American reality is the core of a debate trinc in Spain with more passion than data.

China builds, the world watches

The Asian giant doesn't just produce: it also consumes. Between January and September 2026 it sold 8 million pure electric cars, to which plug-in hybrids must be added to reach the 13.6 million figure sometimes quoted. The country is an oil importer and has a clear energy interest in consolidating the electric market. Outside its borders, the picture narrows: only 16 of the 195 countries exceed a 10% electric share, and several of them are microstates such as Luxembourg or Iceland. Excluding China, those fifteen countries add up to 355 million people, roughly the population of the US.

Global production of pure electric cars is concentrated in Chinese hands —BYD, Tesla's Gigafactory in Shanghai—, which explains why the country leads both supply and demand. In Europe, the markets that perform best are the heavily subsidized ones or those with a climate hostile to the combustion engine, such as Norway. Portugal, with a 47.7% share in September and every month of 2026 above 20%, is the exception that proves the rule.

Why is the US falling behind?

The short answer: because it doesn't need to. The country has its own oil and gasoline prices that don't encourage changing habits. The long answer is political: the Trump administration has scrapped subsidies for electric car purchases, and without them the market has settled at around 6%. Some argue that the electric vehicle only works with public money, while others reply that the combustion engine has also received historic support. The debate is far from settled.

The subsidy-as-crutch argument has its counterpoint in technological pogre. 150 years ago the only cars were electric; the combustion engine ate their lunch once Henry Ford made production cheap. Attempts to revive the battery-powered car were made in the 1930s, 50s, 70s and 90s without commercial success. The difference now is computing power: AI makes it possible to explore thousands of battery material combinations that were previously unthinkable. Solid-state batteries, if they ever become viable, would change the board.

Fire as an argument

One of the hottest fronts is safety. A fire at a Cadillac dealership in Fort Worth (Texas) that burned six electric vehicles and kept firefighters working for 18 hours has become ammunition for skeptics. Swedish data from the MSB agency suggest that electrics catch fire less per vehicle on the road than combustion cars, but the method does not control for vehicle age: the average Spanish electric fleet is under three years old, while the overall fleet averages nearly fourteen. Both sides admit the comparison is not clean.

The underlying question is whether the electric car will stand the test of time. Supporters point to evolving technology; critics note that no battery has yet proven a fourteen-year lifespan. It's the same debate there was about the first mobile phones: nobody knew if they would last, and they did. The difference is that a car costs thirty times more than a Nokia.

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The striking figure: around 16 million electric cars will be sold worldwide in 2026, and possibly 20 million in 2027. Outside China, the number remains anecdotal. The transition is real, but it has an owner.