The Daily Populous Saturday August 16th, 2025 evening edition
Authored by cleantechnica.com and submitted by F0urLeafCl0ver

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In a sharp rebuke to the anti-electrification agenda in the US, global EV sales are up 27% over last year, with some legacy automakers — but not all — indicating the potential for a successful transition to electric mobility.

CleanTechnica has spilled much ink on the pace of plug-in hybrid and full EV adoption, and the latest report from the UK firm Rho Motion (a branch of the price reporting agency Benchmark Mineral Intelligence) adds some fresh insights.

Covering the first seven months of 2025, earlier today Rho Motion totaled up more than 10.7 million EVs sold for a “robust” 27% increase over the same period last year, with China leading the pack by a wide margin.

Europe also contributed to the overall robustness. Germany and the UK racked up impressive gains and Italy also turning in a mentionable performance. “The European EV market has grown by 30% year-to-date, with strong momentum in both battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), up 30% and 32% respectively,” Rho Motion summarized.

“In contrast, North America’s growth has been muted so far in 2025, with the US facing policy headwinds and Canada seeing a slowdown,” Rho Motion Data Manager Charles Lester observed.

“We expect a short-term lift in US demand ahead of the IRA consumer tax credit deadline in September, followed by a likely dip,” Lester added.

That short-term lift won’t help North America catch up to Europe, as neatly illustrated by Rho Motion’s EV sales snapshot:

Rest of World: 0.9 million, +42%

Earlier this week, the nonprofit organization Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit also added some interesting detail to the EV sales picture in the UK. It’s interesting because it demonstrates that some legacy automakers have become adept at pushing the EV sales envelope, and that has some interesting implications for the US market particularly in regards to Ford.

“All of the 10 best performing manufacturers more than doubled their EV sales — and in some cases quadrupled — in the first six months of 2025, compared to the first six months of 2024,” summarized ECIU head of communications lead George Smeeton, giving a shoutout to Ford as well as Renault and Mini:

“Having struggled in 2024, starting the year with just one model of electric car on sale, Ford has enjoyed the most dramatic increase in the number of EVs that it has sold. EV sales for the legacy manufacturer in the first six months of 2025 were a remarkable 324% higher than the first six months of 2024 with the arrival of new models including the sub-£30k Ford Puma Gen-E.”

A Promising Sign For Ford’s “Model T Moment”

The ECIU news came out on August 11, the very day that Ford announced an ambitious $5 billion plan to manufacture affordable EVs in the US with a target price of around $30,000.

On Monday, Ford rolled out some key details about the plan, which pivots around low cost LFP batteries and a new, three-branched modular assembly line to replace the traditional single-file assembly line. The company will use the same platform to manufacture passenger cars, vans, and pickup trucks, with the truck slated to roll out first.

With the new “Model T Moment” in hand, Ford expects to catch EV sales leader Tesla napping. “Lower cost of ownership over five years than a three-year-old used Tesla Model Y,” Ford noted in its press materials announcing its intent to send more affordable EVs into the US market.

I reached out to Ford for some additional details on its calculations. The company replied by email, explaining that it uses a standard third-party TCO (total cost of ownership) tool that takes into account vehicle specifications, a 5-year/75,000-mile ownership period, energy prices, maintenance schedules, financing, and available incentives among other factors.

“The total cost of ownership forecast for the new mid-size Ford electric truck was made using internal targets (e.g., pricing, depreciation and energy efficiency) as well as relational capability gleamed from the same third-party current model assessments,” Ford added.

More UK EV News, More Implications For The US Market

To the extent that the pace of EV sales in the UK drops a few hints about the US market, it looks like Honda, Mazda, and Toyota will fail to impress. ECIU lists them among the automakers being “rapidly being left behind as the world continues to move away from the internal combustion engine, and towards electric cars.”

For the record, other successful Top 10 EV sales-makers in the UK that currently market EVS in the US are Porsche (203% UK sales increase) and Volkswagen (201%). To date, Mini (160%) only sells ICE vehicles in the US.

Rounding out the EICU’s Top 10 EV sales list are Renault (251%) and Peugot (112%). Neither sells into the US market, though both have occasionally dropped hints about a return. Skoda (143%) and Cupra (109%) also made the Top 10.

“Legacy manufacturers are proving more than capable of making the transition to building the electric cars of the future with European manufacturers dominating,” ECIU concluded.

Yes, what about Tesla? The ECIU report is focused on legacy automakers that juggle many plates, balls, and bowling pins to incorporate EVs into their existing lineup while also satisfying expectations for many decades of leadership in the global auto industry.

Tesla and other EV-only startups are under no such constraints, though they face other sorts of risks. Earlier this week, for example, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly made sport of the cash flow problems accrued by the US startups Rivian and Lucid, though Tesla itself may not have survived the global financial crash of 2008 if not for a generous assist from US taxpayers.

The diversified clean tech firm Tesla has its roots in Tesla Motors, a small-volume maker of electric sports cars aiming at a select market. The company launched in 2003 only to be met with the 2008 financial crisis. US taxpayers came to the rescue in 2009 with a $465 million loan commitment from the US Department of Energy, which stipulated that the startup produce (somewhat) more affordable EVs for the mass market.

Tesla repaid the loan ahead of schedule in 2013 to much cheering and went on to lead global the EV sales race by a wide margin. More recently, Musk himself went on to stab US taxpayers in the back, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.

Photo: Global EV sales have surged by 27% so far this year, with some legacy automakers — but not all — proving they can make a successful transition to electric mobility (shown here: Ford’s Puma Gen-E BEV for the European market).

brucebrowde on August 16th, 2025 at 15:16 UTC »

Can't stop progress. Also, I'm not crying too much about the oil industry to be honest.

DeadJango on August 16th, 2025 at 14:37 UTC »

Ice vehicles are basically stagnant while EVs are improving and evolving. Waiting for a few more bits of tech to hit the market and will get my own. Too late to stop the shift and it's in all our best interests anyways.

AGuyWhoBrokeBad on August 16th, 2025 at 12:14 UTC »

Sounds like all the legacy automakers are getting in on the action and eating Teslas lunch. I’m honestly looking forward to the Subaru/Toyota joint EV venture, the Subaru Uncharted/ Toyota CH-R.