Over the weekend, one of our team pulled into a public fast charger and ended up helping the couple at the next stall. They'd owned their Volkswagen ID.4 for about two months, usually charged at home, and couldn't get the car and charger to talk to each other. Moments like that are a reminder that electrification keeps growing, even while the experience is still catching up.
The shift away from gas is happening faster than the experience around it.
Global EV and Hybrid Sales Push Gas-Powered Share to 49%
In the first half of 2026, pure gas-powered vehicles fell below half of global new-vehicle sales for the first time, according to Mobility Global data reported by Car Dealership Guy.
Powertrain | H1 2026 global sales | Change | Global share |
|---|---|---|---|
Gas-only | 20.25 million | -10% | 49%, down from 73% in 2021 |
Hybrid | 7.27 million | +10% | 18% |
Battery electric | 6.87 million | +12% | 17% |
The drop in gas-only sales was steepest in China, down 26%, and Europe, down 13%. High fuel prices tied to the Iran conflict helped accelerate the shift.
The US picture is more mixed. Mobility Global counted 52,154 EV households switching to gas vehicles over the year ending in June, and Cox estimates Tesla's US sales fell 31% last quarter. But the Alliance for Automotive Innovation found EV share grew in 47 states in Q2, and CDK's Dave Thomas says some brands are seeing EV shortages as demand outpaces supply.
"Few EV buyers return to gasoline vehicles or hybrids, and as prices continue to fall, demand driven by genuine consumer needs rather than subsidies is likely to expand." Yoshiaki Kawano, Mobility Global
What the Global Powertrain Shift Means for US Dealers
Alternative powertrains aren't slowing down globally, and the US is likely to follow at its own pace. The open question is which powertrains win here, and whether legacy brands can move fast enough to keep Chinese competitors out of the market.
Charging still needs to get simpler. Tesla owners plug in and walk away. Everyone else is still dealing with apps, accounts, and occasional handshake problems. The industry has solved this kind of problem before: phones once came with a dozen different chargers, and now nearly everything runs on USB-C.
For dealers, the practical takeaway is to stay flexible with your powertrain mix and make the first charge part of every EV delivery. A customer who struggles at a public charger in month two remembers who sold them the car.
The dealers who make EV ownership easy will keep the customers who choose it.
