I previously wrote about the end of a federal tax break that allowed new EV buyers between $4,000 and $7,000 in savings. As expected, the market for new electric vehicles reacted by taking a nosedive earlier this year. New EV sales are down more than 20% year-over-year, according to Cox Automotive, the world’s largest automotive services and technology provider. The massive dip has caused a number of car manufacturers to rethink their electric vehicle lineups. Toyota abandoned its plans this year for an electrified Lexus, and Honda removed three of its EV models from the U.S. market.

But while the economics of new electric vehicles aren’t working in a rebateless U.S., it turns out that used cars that don’t rely 100% on gas are in high demand.

Hybrid vehicle sales in the U.S. have increased by roughly 80% between 2023 and 2026, a pace of more than 2 million vehicles a year, according to Cox. Used electric vehicles have also seen recent record sales. This past spring, secondhand EV sales rose 29% from the same time last year. 

These numbers come despite the fact that the Trump administration ended tax rebates for electric cars last fall. Where domestic policies actively moved to disincentivize EV purchases, the administration’s international maneuvers have now inspired the opposite.

The U.S has long lagged behind other countries when it comes to fast, reliable, and accessible public transit. A Transportation for America report published this year found that it would take $4.6 trillion for major American cities to achieve world-class transit (while saving us $5.4 trillion in car ownership costs). Making such investments remains a critical part of addressing the climate and oil crises. 

That’s where electric vehicles come in. And used EVs, which tend to depreciate on the market faster than their gas-guzzling counterparts, are especially prioritized because buyers can get good deals on vehicles with low mileage.

The war in Iran has impacted gas prices globally, which means Americans are not alone in their quest to find more efficient vehicles. During the height of gas price spikes this past February and March, Kosovo, Latvia, and Sweden experienced some of the biggest fuel spikes in Europe. Gas prices also hit hard in Rwanda and Sri Lanka, rising 48% and 46% respectively since February.

I’ve written before about how these increased prices have inspired certain countries to embrace clean energy. A pivot toward clean energy use rather than fossil fuel imports saved the European Union nearly $60 billion in 2025, according to last year’s IEA World Energy Investment Report.

That move away from gas is reverberating in car sales across the continent. Roughly 1 in 5 new cars registered in April 2026 were fully electric, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, a nearly 16% increase from the same time last year. Between January and April 2026, around 750,000 new fully electric cars were sold in the EU. In India, the third-largest global automaker market, EVs accounted for more than 12% of vehicle retail sales for the first time this June. Overall, electric vehicle sales rose nearly 63% year-over-year. 

The global rise of the electric car market has also boosted an old Boogeyman: Tesla.

This past quarter, the company’s global sales shot up 25%, signaling that Elon Musk’s luxury electric car brand has rebounded. This follows the polarizing role Musk played in the early days of the second Trump administration when, as senior advisor of  the Department of Government Efficiency, he oversaw workforce reduction initiatives that resulted in more than 260,000 federal employees leaving government service in 2025. It’s estimated the backlash to his actions cost him up to 1 million U.S. Tesla sales. Musk met similar pushback across Europe last year, when he publicly backed several far-right political candidates in Germany and Britain. Subsequent boycotts and protests largely contributed to a 38% drop in Tesla’s European sales last year. 

Now, Tesla has seemed to have performed a 180. Europe has become Tesla’s biggest market. Sales surged by 77% during the first five months of 2026.

American rebates are also making a resurgence, at least in some states. Nearly a year after the federal tax credit for new EVs expired, California is stepping up to offer $3,500 off for new EVs and $1,750 off for used ones. Several other mostly blue states offer direct rebates to car owners.

But EV sales don’t paint the full picture. Consumer sentiment on electric cars and hybrids is just as important as actual purchases, often depicting where trends will go and how the public feels about investing in EVs and technology overall. With that in mind, back in the U.S. it looks like electric vehicles are gaining traction. 

A Pew Research survey conducted in March found that about one-third of American adults say they’re very or somewhat likely to seriously consider purchasing an electric vehicle. The number is even higher with hybrids, at 44%.