The global EV market is entering a new phase: adoption is increasingly shaped not only by climate policy, but also by fuel costs, vehicle prices, Chinese manufacturing scale and charging infrastructure.

Key Takeaway

The Guardian’s September 30 report on Australia shows how quickly a car market can change when pricing, model availability, fuel costs and regulation move in the same direction. In the first half of 2026, Australian sales of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles reached 157,957, more than double that of the previous year and roughly one-quarter of new vehicle sales.

The global shift is broader. The International Energy Agency reports that more than 20 million electric cars were sold worldwide in 2025, up 20% year on year, making one in four new cars electric. The IEA expects the share to approach 29% in 2026, although regional performance remains uneven.

For Georgia, the key point is that the transition has already started. Geostat recorded imports of 5,224 electric passenger cars in 2024, up from 2,155 in 2023. According to calculations by BTU researchers, this was a 142.4% increase. Import value rose from USD 55.9 million to USD 102.3 million, or about 83.1%. Yet EVs were still only about 2.5% of passenger-car imports by volume, showing rapid growth from a small base.

The global market is moving into the mass phase

The first EV wave depended heavily on wealthy early adopters, subsidies and a limited set of expensive models. The market now looks different. Nearly 1,000 electric models were available globally in 2025, around 40% of all car models. Chinese manufacturers accounted for more than half of global battery-electric sales, while lower-cost models are spreading adoption into emerging economies.

China sold more than 13 million electric cars in 2025, with EVs approaching 55% of new-car sales. Europe exceeded 4 million sales after 30% growth. Emerging economies outside China increased electric-car sales by around 80% to almost 1.2 million. For a small importing economy such as Georgia, this matters because technological change arrives primarily through price and product availability rather than domestic production.

Georgia: rapid growth from a very small base

Georgia’s official trade statistics show a clear acceleration. Electric passenger-car imports rose from 373 units in 2021 to 1,287 in 2022, 2,155 in 2023 and 5,224 in 2024. The figure should not be confused with final domestic sales or the active EV fleet, because Georgia also re-exports vehicles.

Total passenger-car imports actually fell from 219,990 units in 2023 to 209,152 in 2024, while EV imports more than doubled. This means the EV increase cannot be explained simply by a larger overall car-import market; the internal composition of imports changed.

Chinese scale is changing the affordability channel

Chinese manufacturers are central to the global price story. The IEA estimates that China-based manufacturers accounted for more than half of battery-electric sales in 2025, while Chinese imports represented about 60% of EV sales in emerging and developing economies outside China. For Georgia, this suggests that adoption may increasingly be driven by affordable Chinese models rather than only premium Western brands.

Geostat data for January–April 2026 show that total passenger-car imports from China rose from 1,404 to 2,690 units year on year, while value increased from USD 12.6 million to USD 24.9 million. This covers all passenger cars, not only EVs, so it should be read as evidence of China’s growing role as a vehicle supplier rather than a direct EV measure.

Charging may become the next constraint

Mass electrification requires more than vehicles. It requires home, workplace, urban and highway charging. The IEA identifies inadequate charging infrastructure as a major constraint in markets where policy support is also limited.

In Georgia, the problem differs by user. Homeowners may be able to charge overnight, while apartment residents face parking and electrical-capacity constraints. On intercity routes, fast-charging density directly affects whether an EV is practical for everyday travel. Corporate investment is beginning to emerge: TBC’s 2025 report identifies EV charging as a green-finance activity and describes plans for 38 charging stations at its own facilities.

Where business opportunities emerge

EV growth changes more than the vehicle-import business. Demand expands for charging operators, electrical engineers, specialist garages, battery diagnostics, insurers, auto-finance providers, property developers and energy companies. Georgia’s large used-car market makes battery-health transparency especially important. Standardized diagnostics, warranties and residual-value assessment can become core trust infrastructure for the secondary EV market.

BTU Researchers’ Assessment

According to an assessment by BTU researchers, Georgia’s EV market has moved beyond the earliest-adopter phase but has not yet entered mass electrification. The 142.4% rise in 2024 imports is a strong signal, while the roughly 2.5% share of passenger-car imports shows that the base remains small.

Near-term growth is likely to depend on four interacting factors: purchase price, availability of lower-cost Chinese models, the operating-cost gap between fuel and electricity, and charging expansion. If all four improve at the same time, adoption can accelerate sharply. If charging and used-battery transparency lag, rapid import growth will translate more slowly into structural fleet change.

Conclusion

Electric vehicles are now a central transformation in the global auto industry. One in four new cars sold worldwide in 2025 was electric, and the share is still rising. Growth is no longer confined to rich countries as lower-cost models and Chinese exports spread EV adoption into new markets.

Georgia’s official import data show the local beginning of this transition. The decisive stage will arrive when buying an EV becomes part of a complete ecosystem – financing, charging, service, battery diagnostics and a trusted used market. The speed of that ecosystem, not import growth alone, will determine how quickly Georgia’s vehicle fleet actually changes.

Data and Main Sources

The Guardian, 30 September 2026 – An EV sold every 100 seconds: Australian demand for electric cars more than doubles.

International Energy Agency – Global EV Outlook 2026; Electric Car Markets in a Time of Uncertainty, 2026.

National Statistics Office of Georgia – External Merchandise Trade 2024; vehicle statistics portal; 2026 trade data.

TBC Bank Group – Annual Report 2025, green-finance and charging-infrastructure disclosures.

Prepared by the academic team of Business and Technology University and the BTUAI Research Team, Tbilisi, Georgia.