Five EV related news items worth a read. You can visit the sources mentioned below if you want to dig deeper. Hope your weekend is electrifying!

25% Market Share for EVs in Europe

France, Spain, Slovenia, Czechia, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal and Finland saw record breaking EV sales in the first half of 2026. A total of 1.24 million EVs were sold during this period. Tesla, Renault, Skoda and Volkswagen were among the top 10 best selling brands for electric cars.

Nissan Achieves EV Milestone in Europe

Since the launch of the first generation Leaf model in 2010, Nissan sold around 1.25 million electrified vehicles in Europe. The current lineup includes the fully electric Micra, Gen 3 Leaf, updated Ariya and the hybrid X-Trail (photos below in the same order/courtesy: respective owners). If you are interested to get a quick history lesson for EVs you can read my post here on the The Evolution of Electric Cars.

Decline in US BEV Sales

US electric vehicle sales for Q2 2026 was down 21% from Q2 2025. A total of 247,226 fully electric cars were sold between April 2026 and June 2026 compared to the same period last year. It was however the best quarter since the removal of the Federal Tax Credit last year. The rising cost of fuel may have contributed to an uptake of EVs in the US and elsewhere.

World’s First Diesel PHEV Ute Announced

Chinese automaker Chery revealed the Stockman diesel plug-in-hybrid (PHEV) double cab ute at a recent event held in Sydney. The Australia and New Zealand launch are slated for end of 2026. The ute will compete with the BYD Shark and offer slightly better performance. The pricing has not yet been revealed. Image courtesy: AutoTrader

Thailand-China Electric Vehicle Ecosystem

The Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) announced at the recently concluded Intelligent EV Industry CXO Forum that the country is stepping up efforts to create a sustainable production and intelligent-mobility hub for the manufacturing of electric vehicles. Present at the forum, David Li, CEO of Huawei Technologies Thailand mentioned autonomous driving, smart cockpits, in-car AI and entertainment services are the future of automotive engineering.

Thailand has spent decades to build a robust automotive vehicle manufacturing ecosystem with the help of Japanese industry leaders like Toyota, Honda and Nissan. With investment from Chinese companies like BYD, GWM and Changan, Thailand is transforming its auto sector to become EV ready, which it thinks is the future. Image courtesy: Thailand Business News

Sources:

Inside EVs: https://insideevs.com/news/802351/europe-ev-sales-half-year/

Eleport: https://eleport.com/best-electric-cars-2026-q1/

The EV Report: https://theevreport.com/nissan-1-25-million-electrified-vehicles-europe

Nissan UK: https://micra.nissan.co.uk/

Nissan UK: https://leaf.nissan.co.uk/

Nissan UK: https://www.nissan.co.uk/vehicles/new-vehicles/ariya.html

Nissan UK: https://www.nissan.co.uk/cf/vehicles/new-vehicles/x-trail

Clean Technica: https://cleantechnica.com/2026/07/21/us-ev-market-down-21-in-q2-2026-but/

The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/fuel-prices-drive-sales-of-evs-just-not-in-the-u-s/

Barron’s: https://www.barrons.com/articles/paper-stocks-sp-500-efcc5260

Chery Australia: https://cherymotor.com.au/models/stockman

BYD NZ: https://www.bydauto.co.nz/vehicles/shark-6

Nation Thailand: https://www.nationthailand.com/business/automobile/40069019

Thailand Business News: https://www.thailand-business-news.com/china/307706-the-ev-kingdom-thailands-bold-move-with-chinese-automakers-in-the-electric-vehicle-revolution