Electric cars saved oil-importing countries $20bn in six months
With the Hormuz crisis keeping oil prices high, EV fleets displaced an estimated 200 million barrels of crude between March and August, according to Ember. And 49 of 56 countries hit record electric car sales.
Electric cars are doing more than cutting emissions: they are shielding countries from oil shocks. In the six months since the disruption to oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz began, electric car fleets in oil-importing countries displaced an estimated 200 million barrels of crude, worth $20 billion, according to new analysis from the energy think tank Ember.
China saved an estimated $14 billion between March and August, and EU countries $3.1 billion. Fully electric cars account for most of the total ($16.5 billion).
Records almost everywhere
Sales are still climbing. Of the 56 countries in Ember’s monthly tracker, 49 have recorded a record share of battery electric car sales so far in 2026. Outside the US and China, global sales of fully electric cars are up an estimated 45% on the same period last year.
Norway leads with 98% of new car sales, but new pioneers are emerging: Uruguay reached 38% in the first eight months of the year, making it Latin America’s leading market, while Nepal, Singapore and Viet Nam are among the twelve markets where electric cars already make up more than a third of sales. Fifteen countries, including Brazil and India, have overtaken the US.
With oil above $100 a barrel again in September, Ember expects the savings to keep growing.
