Middle East war revs up demand for EVs
Surge in oil prices pushes consumers to electric cars in Asian economies
The sales of electric vehicles have jumped in Asia as cost-conscious buyers have poured into dealerships looking to dodge the fuel price spikes driven by the Middle East war.
Many Asian nations have been particularly hard hit due to a sharp fall in the crude shipments they rely on — and have few alternatives to replace them.
Yet, the energy crisis has been a windfall for electric vehicle manufacturers.
Do Thi Lan, an employee at a Vietnamese company, explained the simple math about the electric cars' appeal at a showroom of Vinfast, a Vietnamese electric carmaker.
"We have to calculate our monthly expenses, as the money we spend on petroleum has been on the rise," she said.
She said her family owns a car that runs on gas but was considering buying an electric vehicle to save money.
Dao Thi Hue, also at the showroom, was looking to go electric too.
"Driving an EV is so much better than driving a petrol vehicle, in terms of costs and also in terms of saving fuel, queuing to fill up," the schoolteacher said.
Crude oil prices have soared by around 50 percent since the start of the Middle East war and again exceeded $100 per barrel on Monday, driving up the cost at the pump.
Asia was already making inroads with EVs before the war in Iran drove oil prices to multiyear highs. Vietnam doubled its share of EV car sales last year, overtaking the United Kingdom, according to energy think tank Ember.
Thailand's sales share reached 20 percent, up from just 1 percent in 2019, and Indonesia overtook the US in EV penetration. Southeast Asian EV sales rose to 55,000 vehicles a month in the last quarter of 2025, up from 32,000 monthly sales a year earlier.




























