Europe EV Sales Surge 34% in July as China Falls 11% and North America Drops 4%, Bernstein Data Show

HONG KONG — Bernstein analyst Neil Beveridge published regional EV sales data for July 2026 on August 17, documenting a widening divergence in global electric vehicle market performance across major regions. The headline finding: European EV sales surged 34% year on year to 539,000 units, while China's market contracted 11% year on year to 1,016,000 units and North America fell 4% to 136,000 units. China accounted for 51% of global EV sales in the month, maintaining its dominant position despite the year-on-year decline. Pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs) represented 68% of China's total plug-in sales. Bernstein noted that the year-to-date (YTD) picture is similarly uneven: China's 2026 YTD sales of 4.76 million units are down 14% year on year, while Europe's YTD of 2.53 million units is up 29% year on year. North America's YTD of 680,000 units has fallen 21% year on year. Regional battery demand data from the report shows corresponding patterns. European battery demand reached 29.7 GWh in July, up 36% year on year. China's battery demand stood at 55.4 GWh, up 9% year on year. North American battery demand was 10.2 GWh, down 5% year on year. On a YTD basis, total global battery demand across all regions reached 515 GWh, up 14% year on year. Bernstein's data reinforces the narrative that European demand is being sustained by subsidy support and regulatory pressure even as other markets face headwinds. The analyst has previously linked the North American contraction to the expiry of federal tax credits, a dynamic also cited by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency in its analysis of why non-China global EV markets grew 30.3% year on year in the first half of 2026 while North America was the only major region to post a decline.