Middle East war revs up demand for EVs

Boosting sales

Chinese car brands have made inroads over the past months in regions such as Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

Exports of Chinese electric vehicles — for which Southeast Asia is a major market — doubled in March, compared with the same month last year across all manufacturers, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

BYD told analysts it expects its vehicle exports to exceed 1.5 million in 2026, well above the 1.3 million target announced in January.

Economic factors are at the forefront of the increased demand for greener vehicles.

"You have the individual consumer response to what they are seeing in terms of the price of petrol or diesel suddenly surging," said Euan Graham, an electricity and data analyst at Ember.

"The impact of the Iran conflict hasn't fully shown up in March data yet, but it can act as a trigger," said Chris Liu, a Shanghai-based senior analyst at advisory group Omdia, as quoted by the Washington Post.

"In many markets that are structurally well suited for EVs, adoption has been slow simply because consumers lacked urgency," he said. "A sharp rise in fuel prices changes that."

The installation of charging stations in the region is also growing rapidly.

Jakarta promised last week to take "more serious steps to accelerate the development of a national electric vehicle ecosystem" to combat its "high level of energy consumption".

Electric vehicles are gaining momentum beyond Southeast Asia.

"There are signs that global demand has already picked up substantially," Capital Economics, a research firm, said, adding that registrations of electric vehicles in Japan, South Korea and New Zealand more than doubled in March, and rose by over 50 percent in India and Australia.

Agencies via Xinhua