From Australia to Vietnam, the Iran war is fuelling demand for EVs

Electric vehicle sales are surging in many markets as conflict drives up the cost of running petrol and diesel vehicles.Vinfast electric cars make their way through traffic in Hanoi, Vietnam, on June 6, 2024 [Hau Dinh/AP]Published On 27 Apr 2026CorrectionA previous version of this article misidentified David Smitherman as the CEO of EVDirect.Sydney, Australia – Until recently, Rosco Jewell sold about one used electric vehicle every two months on his online marketplace, Amazing EV.But in the weeks since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran, Jewell has been shifting a second-hand EV roughly every two weeks.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Iran’s foreign minister leaves Pakistan, heads to Russia for more talkslist 2 of 4Video: Israeli ‘ceasefire’ violations on the rise in Gazalist 3 of 4Oil prices rise amid stalled US-Iran peace talkslist 4 of 4Satellite images show scale of Israeli destruction of south Lebanon townsend of list“It is now getting very hard to find used EVs to buy in the $20,000 to $50,000 range. And we’ve also seen prices increase by 10 to 15 percent – in some cases, 20 percent as well,” the Sydney-based businessman told Al Jazeera.As conflict in the Middle East drives petrol and diesel prices worldwide, demand for EVs has been surging in numerous countries.The United States and China, the world’s two largest economies, have both seen a surge in EV sales after market slumps in 2025.Chinese manufacturers reported an 82.6 percent rise in month-on-month sales in March, according to the China Automotive Dealers Association.US EV sales last month topped 82,000 units, down by one quarter year over year, but up by more than 20 percent from February, according to Cox Automotive.A BYD logo is seen during the Shanghai auto show in Shanghai, China, on April 23, 2025 [Ng Han Guan/AP]In Vietnam, local EV brand Vinfast reported a 127 percent rise in year-on-year sales in March.Euan Graham, an analyst at the energy think tank Ember, said the war on Iran has accelerated a trend of growing EV adoption in emerging markets, including Southeast Asia, spurred by past energy shocks such as the war in Ukraine.“We’re now in a period in the 2020s where we’ve seen two fossil fuel shocks, one after the other,” Graham told Al Jazeera, referring to the energy crunch that followed Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.“What usually happens, based on past examples… is countries look for alternative solutions, and in the 2020s, there are increasingly competitive alternative solutions, and EVs are one of them,” Graham said.“So I would really expect this to be a kind of permanent shift in the pace of EV adoption in a number of countries,” he added.Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s EV sales nearly tripled year-on-year last month, while South Korea saw domestic purchases surge by 172 percent.In Europe, France recorded a three-fold increase in new registrations of Tesla cars, while Norway, Sweden and Denmark reported similar surges in new registrations for the EV brand.In Australia, battery EVs accounted for 14.6 percent of total vehicle sales in March, nearly double the proportion recorded during the same month in 2025, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.A Kia Niro electric vehicle charges in Newport, Rhode Island, on April 19, 2025 [Alyssa Goodman/AP]David Smitherman, the CEO of EVDealer Group, Australia’s largest retail and service network for Chinese EV maker BYD, said he had seen a sharp uptick in inquiries that he expected to translate into sales in the coming months.“We’ve just seen a lot of people come into the stores, obviously concerned about the price of fuel and their ability to control their own transport needs,” Smitherman, whose company manages 90 BYD showrooms, told Al Jazeera.In Melbourne, Kevin Alberica, operations and sourcing manager at EV dealership Evolve Motors, said one of his staff had recently sold seven Teslas in a single Saturday.“’I’ve never seen multiple people queueing for one car,” Alberica told Al Jazeera.“We had over 100 Teslas in stock. Now we have barely anything,” he said. “I am trying to replace everything we have, but it is difficult.”While Australia is a major exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas, the country imports about 80 percent of its petrol and diesel needs.Australia’s government said last month that the country had about one month of fuel in reserves, with upcoming shipments secured through to May.“The news is definitely scaring people,” Alberica said. “You have a lot of business owners that have maybe diesel vans come in and buy a Tesla Model.”Charles Lester, data manager at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said the trajectory of global demand for EVs would depend on petrol prices.“If the price is sustained for a long period, and when it comes to consumers and when they’re deciding to purchase a vehicle, their heads will turn towards at least thinking about purchasing an electric vehicle,” Lester told Al Jazeera.Signs are displayed on empty fuel dispensers at a Shell petrol station that ran out of fuel in Sydney, Australia, on March 30, 2026 [Hollie Adams/Reuters]For EV advocates, the rise in demand has spurred hopes that governments will take a more active role in supporting the transition away from the combustion engine.In Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales, the state government earlier this month unveiled a $71m initiative to fund the installation of EV chargers in regional areas.Such moves have been tempered by a review of Australia’s generous tax breaks for EVs at the federal level, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers widely expected to scale back the exemption from fringe benefits tax in May’s budget.Australia is “uniquely well positioned” to benefit from the electrification of its transportation because of “the success we’ve had in not only large-scale renewable energy, but also in consumer renewable energy over a couple of decades”, James Pickering, national president of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association, told Al Jazeera.For some Australian consumers, the switch to an EV has been a godsend after years of above-average inflation since the COVID-19 pandemic.Jarred, a 27-year-old public servant in Melbourne, bought his first EV in February, just before the start of the war on Iran.“The running costs have blown me away,” Jarred, who asked to be identified by this first name, told Al Jazeera.“I can do a full charge at home for just $6.60 with my new home electricity rates,” he added.