Electric vehicles dominate battery sales globally, and on an ongoing basis according to International Energy Agency (IEA). They accounted for more than 70% of global battery deployment in 2025, although this was down from 80% the previous year.
Electric Vehicles: Enormous Amounts of Energy
The IEA report, that we link to below, confirms that total electric vehicle battery deployment amounted to 1.2 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025. This enormous amount of energy would have been sufficient to power the city of Halifax in Canada.
This astounding volume was 30% greater than in 2024, and seven-times more than in 2020. This is all proof positive that electric vehicles dominate battery sales at an accelerating rate, more then ever before!
Electric Vehicle Types With Greatest Impact
Light electric vehicles – cars, vans and so on – represented 85% of EV battery deployment in 2025. Yet the fastest growth that year came from electric trucks where demand doubled.
Drilling down into this surprising information, we find this is due to fast accelerating sales in China. Because there, one in four trucks sold that year was battery electric. This trend helped assure that global truck battery deployment rose to 8% in 2025, up from less than 5% in 2024.
Where Were Most Electric Vehicles Deployed?
The IEA report confirms that China dominated electric vehicle battery sales, with 60% of deployment. The European Union followed with 14%, and United States third with 10%.
Emerging markets (excluding China) only scraped through with 6%, suggesting that electric vehicles are often still rated as luxuries there. But that could change in future with less expensive, more powerful batteries.
More Information
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