Sales of electric vehicles globally booked another monthly decline in February, after dipping in January, mostly on the back of a marked slowdown in purchases in China.

The country, which is the world’s biggest EV market, saw a sizable 32% decline in new electric car and hybrid registrations. The decline followed the phaseout of a tax incentive at the end of last year and the cancellation of funding for so-called trade-ins. As a result, new EV and hybrid registrations in February stood at less than 500,000 cars, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence reported, as cited by Reuters.

Global sales of electric cars declined by 11% in February to around 1 million vehicles. This was the lowest monthly total since February 24, Reuters noted in its report. The total was also dragged down by sales in North America, which fell for the fifth month in a row, following Trump’s clampdown on incentives. The total stood at fewer than 90,000 cars last month, down 35%.

Europe, as usual, bucked the trend in China and North America, booking a 21% increase in EV registrations as European governments stick with incentives they see as crucial for the electrification of transport—a fundamental part of net-zero efforts.

Germany notably reconsidered the cancellation of an EV incentive scheme that the government approved two years ago, which led to a slump in sales. The cancellation was prompted by budgetary difficulties. Earlier this year, however, the Merz coalition brought back the scheme, committing some 3.5 billion euros to it over the period to 2029 in a bid to help its struggling car manufacturing industry and pursue its net-zero goals.

The current oil crisis in the Middle East could provide an additional incentive to car buyers to go electric, but on the other hand, it could have a deterring effect as higher oil prices make everything else costlier, too, extending all the way to cars.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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