EV Sales by Brand 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-authors: Aidan Jad (EV & Energy) | Last updated: September 11, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
BYD sold 867,479 battery-electric cars in the first half of 2026, just 29,330 more than Tesla’s 838,149, Axis Intelligence Research calculates from the two companies’ own filings. The lead changed hands inside the half: Tesla won the first quarter, the only quarter it led in our six-quarter series, and BYD took it back in the second.
Quick Answer
BYD is the world’s largest electric-car maker by volume, and Tesla is the largest pure battery-electric maker by share of output. In H1 2026, BYD’s passenger BEV sales (HKEX filing) fell 15.2% to 867,479, while Tesla’s deliveries (SEC 8-K) rose 16.3% to 838,149. On the Axis Intelligence Research EV Automaker Momentum Index (EAMI), Tesla scores 88.5 and BYD 64.8.
Key Findings
- BYD outsold Tesla in battery-electric cars by only 29,330 units in H1 2026 (867,479 vs 838,149), down from a 620,585-unit gap across full-year 2025, Axis Intelligence Research calculates from HKEX and SEC filings.
- Tesla out-delivered BYD’s passenger BEVs by 47,634 units in Q1 2026 (358,023 vs 310,389), the only quarter Tesla led in the six quarters Axis Intelligence Research tracked from Q1 2025 to Q2 2026.
- Tesla ranks first on the Axis Intelligence Research EV Automaker Momentum Index (EAMI) at 88.5, ahead of BYD (64.8), Geely Auto (43.1), Volkswagen Group (36.7) and BMW Group (27.5).
- Battery-electric cars made up 51.8% of BYD’s passenger sales in January–August 2026, up from 41.5% in full-year 2024, Axis Intelligence Research calculates from BYD’s monthly reports.
- US EV sales outside Tesla fell 34.3% in H1 2026 while Tesla’s fell 10.9%, lifting Tesla to 52.3% of the US market, Axis Intelligence Research calculates from Kelley Blue Book counts.
Which Automaker Sells the Most Electric Cars in 2026?
BYD, by a wide margin, if plug-in hybrids count. BYD sold 2,668,015 new energy vehicles in January–August 2026, down 6.84% year on year, according to the company’s monthly reports. That total mixes battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars, which is why it cannot be set against Tesla’s figure directly.
Strip the hybrids out and the race tightens dramatically. The table below puts every major group on the one basis that compares cleanly across companies: fully battery-electric deliveries, from each automaker’s own disclosure, for the first half of 2026.
Battery-electric sales by automaker, H1 2026
| Automaker | H1 2026 BEV sales | Change vs H1 2025 | BEV share of the group’s total | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BYD | 867,479 | −15.2% | 48.0% | BYD HKEX filing |
| Tesla | 838,149 | +16.3% | 100% | Tesla SEC 8-K |
| Geely Auto | 461,416 | −9.7% | 32.4% | Company reports (monthly) |
| Volkswagen Group | 438,500 | −5.8% | 10.6% | Volkswagen Group |
| BMW Group | 204,295 | −7.4% | 17.7% | BMW Group |
BYD counts passenger BEVs only; its share column divides by total NEV sales (1,808,511). Geely Auto includes Zeekr and Lynk & Co. Growth rates and shares for BYD, Tesla and Geely are Axis Intelligence Research calculations from company figures. Sources: BYD, Tesla, Volkswagen Group, BMW Group.
Four of the five largest reporting groups sold fewer battery-electric cars than a year earlier. Tesla is the exception, and it is growing off a weak base: its H1 2025 deliveries were 720,803.
Aidan Jad, EV & Clean Energy: Ranking automakers by “NEV sales” flatters anyone with a big plug-in hybrid line, and every PHEV sold in China still carries a petrol tank. For grid planners and charging operators the BEV column is the one that matters, because a PHEV owner can skip the charger entirely. On that column, the gap between the world’s two biggest EV makers is now smaller than one good month at either company.
Is BYD or Tesla Winning the EV Race in 2026?
It depends on the quarter, and that is the story of the year. In every quarter of 2025, BYD’s passenger BEV sales beat Tesla’s total deliveries, by between 79,707 and 232,584 units. Then BYD’s domestic sales stalled in early 2026, after China scaled back its NEV purchase-tax exemption, and the order of finish flipped.
BYD vs Tesla: battery-electric volume by quarter
| Quarter | BYD passenger BEV | Tesla deliveries | Gap (BYD − Tesla) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | 416,388 | 336,681 | +79,707 | BYD |
| Q2 2025 | 606,993 | 384,122 | +222,871 | BYD |
| Q3 2025 | 582,522 | 497,099 | +85,423 | BYD |
| Q4 2025 | 650,811 | 418,227 | +232,584 | BYD |
| Q1 2026 | 310,389 | 358,023 | −47,634 | Tesla |
| Q2 2026 | 557,090 | 480,126 | +76,964 | BYD |
BYD quarterly figures are Axis Intelligence Research sums of BYD’s monthly passenger BEV reports; Tesla figures are quarterly deliveries from its Q1 2026 update and Q2 2026 8-K. BYD’s H1 total (867,479) reconciles exactly with its June HKEX filing.
Across full-year 2025, BYD sold 2,256,714 passenger BEVs against Tesla’s 1,636,129, a ratio of 1.38 to 1. Tesla’s Q2 2026 deliveries of 480,126 were up 25% on the same quarter a year earlier.
The third quarter already leans BYD’s way. Its passenger BEV sales for July and August alone reached 489,335, and August’s 256,230 was a monthly record. Tesla reports Q3 deliveries in early October; to hold the lead it would need a quarter well above its Q3 2025 figure of 497,099.
Aidan Jad, EV & Clean Energy: Tesla’s Q1 win was real, but it was a BYD stumble more than a Tesla surge. BYD’s own explanation was a changeover to its second-generation Blade battery that stretched delivery times, landing on top of the Chinese tax change. Watch BYD’s September filing. If passenger BEVs clear 250,000 again, the Q3 gap will be wider than anything Tesla can close in a single quarter.
The EV Automaker Momentum Index (EAMI): Who Is Actually Gaining Ground?
Volume says who is biggest. It does not say who is moving the right way, or how committed a company is to fully electric cars. Axis Intelligence Research built the EV Automaker Momentum Index (EAMI) to put those three questions on one 0–100 scale.
Formula:
EAMI = (0.40 × Scale) + (0.30 × Momentum) + (0.30 × Purity)
- Scale (40%) — the automaker’s H1 2026 BEV volume divided by the largest (BYD, 867,479), times 100.
- Momentum (30%) — 50 plus the year-on-year change in H1 BEV volume, clamped between 0 and 100. Flat growth scores 50; +16.3% scores 66.3; −15.2% scores 34.8.
- Purity (30%) — battery-electric cars as a share of the automaker’s total H1 deliveries or sales. A BEV-only maker scores 100.
Every input is a figure the automaker published itself. The five groups scored are those that disclose global H1 2026 BEV volume, total volume and a prior-year comparison for the same period.
EAMI scores, H1 2026
| Rank | Automaker | Scale | Momentum | Purity | EAMI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tesla | 96.6 | 66.3 | 100.0 | 88.5 |
| 2 | BYD | 100.0 | 34.8 | 48.0 | 64.8 |
| 3 | Geely Auto | 53.2 | 40.3 | 32.4 | 43.1 |
| 4 | Volkswagen Group | 50.5 | 44.2 | 10.6 | 36.7 |
| 5 | BMW Group | 23.6 | 42.6 | 17.7 | 27.5 |
Source: Axis Intelligence Research, EV Automaker Momentum Index (EAMI), H1 2026 baseline reading, computed September 11, 2026 from BYD (HKEX), Tesla (SEC), Volkswagen Group, BMW Group and Geely Auto company figures. All component inputs are rows in the downloadable CSV.
Reading the index. Tesla wins on two of three components because it has nothing to dilute: every car is a BEV, and its volume grew. BYD’s scale is unmatched, but half its output is still plug-in hybrid and its BEV volume fell. The bottom three tell one story in three accents. Volkswagen Group is Europe’s BEV leader yet only one in ten of its cars worldwide is fully electric. BMW’s Neue Klasse is lifting European sales, but not yet its global total.
Aidan Jad, EV & Clean Energy: The index punishes something that deserves punishing: a company that sells a lot of electric cars while selling far more combustion ones. VW’s 438,500 BEVs are a serious number. But 4,125,700 total deliveries means the group’s fleet mix barely moves, and fleet mix is what regulators measure against CO₂ targets.
This is the baseline reading of the EAMI. The next reading will use full-year 2026 figures once all five automakers publish them.
How Are Chinese Automakers Doing Beyond BYD?
The Chinese challengers are splitting into two groups: those growing fast on exports and new models, and those stalling at home. The domestic retail ranking for August 2026, from the China Passenger Car Association, puts BYD first with 233,943 NEV retail sales, followed by Geely (110,560), Leapmotor (84,874), Changan (57,874), SAIC-GM-Wuling (53,087) and Tesla China (50,047).
Chinese EV makers: deliveries, January–August 2026
| Automaker | Jan–Aug 2026 deliveries | Change YoY | August 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leapmotor | 560,883 | +70.55% | 103,129 | Company reports |
| Nio Inc (Nio, Onvo, Firefly) | 262,893 | +57.92% | 35,836 | Company reports |
| Li Auto | 261,619 | −0.6% | 37,679 | Company reports |
| Zeekr | 251,188 | +100.40% | 36,981 | Company reports |
| Xpeng | 243,111 | −10.49% | 39,107 | Company reports |
Company-reported NEV deliveries, compiled by CnEVPost. Xiaomi Auto disclosed only that August deliveries exceeded 30,000; its January–July total was 216,322. Huawei’s HIMA alliance delivered 42,101 in August.
Leapmotor is the breakout. It delivered 103,129 cars in August, its fifth straight monthly record, and its eight-month total is more than double Nio Inc’s 262,893, the next-largest startup in the table. Zeekr doubled.
Geely Auto sits between the two groups. Its battery-electric sales for January–August 2026 were 687,371, down 1.0%, but August alone hit 120,590, and exports reached 690,985 vehicles, or 35.6% of the group’s 1,943,313 sales. For the full year 2025, Geely sold 3,024,567 vehicles, of which 1,687,767 were NEVs (Geely Auto).
BYD’s own mix is the most telling shift. Axis Intelligence Research calculates that battery-electric cars were 51.8% of BYD’s passenger sales in January–August 2026, against 49.6% in the same months of 2025 and 41.5% in full-year 2024. In August the BEV share reached 59.1%. The company that built its lead on plug-in hybrids is turning into a BEV company, largely because its overseas business, 43.56% of sales so far this year, runs on battery-electric models.
For the destination split of Chinese exports and the country-level picture, see our China EV export statistics and China EV statistics.
Aidan Jad, EV & Clean Energy: BYD’s domestic sales fell 32.72% in the first eight months while its overseas sales reached 1,162,260. Every Chinese maker that is growing this year is growing abroad or on a new small car. The ones relying on the home market alone, Xpeng and Li Auto among them, are flat or shrinking.
Which Brands Lead Europe’s EV Market?
Volkswagen Group remains the largest battery-electric seller in Europe, by its own account. The group delivered 377,000 BEVs in Europe in H1 2026, up 8.4%. Axis Intelligence Research calculates that Europe accounted for 86.0% of Volkswagen Group’s worldwide BEV deliveries, while its US BEV deliveries collapsed 68.8% to 9,800 and China fell 47.9% to 30,900.
Inside the group, the brands are moving in opposite directions. Škoda’s BEV deliveries rose 48.3% to 108,200; the Volkswagen passenger-car brand’s fell 28.2% to 138,300.
BMW Group delivered 204,295 BEVs worldwide in H1, down 7.4%, but the second quarter turned. BMW’s BEV deliveries rose 5.2% to 116,807 in Q2, and 38.0% in Europe to 81,445, as the Neue Klasse iX3 reached customers.
Volkswagen Group best-selling electric models, H1 2026 (global)
| Rank | Model | H1 2026 deliveries | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Škoda Elroq | 59,900 | Volkswagen Group |
| 2 | Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 | 53,700 | Volkswagen Group |
| 3 | Škoda Enyaq (incl. Coupé) | 48,300 | Volkswagen Group |
| 4 | Volkswagen ID.3 | 44,400 | Volkswagen Group |
| 5 | Audi Q4 e-tron | 33,800 | Volkswagen Group |
| 6 | Audi Q6 e-tron | 31,900 | Volkswagen Group |
| 7 | Volkswagen ID.7 (incl. Tourer) | 29,500 | Volkswagen Group |
| 8 | Volkswagen ID. Buzz (incl. Cargo) | 27,200 | Volkswagen Group |
| 9 | CUPRA Born | 20,800 | Volkswagen Group |
| 10 | Audi A6 e-tron | 18,400 | Volkswagen Group |
Source: Volkswagen Group H1 2026 deliveries release.
The best-selling electric car in the Volkswagen Group is now a Škoda, not a Volkswagen. For the market-level view of Europe’s registrations, see our Europe EV statistics.
Which EV Brands Sell the Most in the United States?
Tesla, and its hold has tightened as the rest of the market shrank. US EV sales fell 23.8% to 462,892 in H1 2026, according to Kelley Blue Book counts published by Cox Automotive. Tesla sold 242,100, down 10.9%, for a 52.3% share.
Axis Intelligence Research calculates that everyone else combined sold 220,792 EVs, down 34.3%. Tesla did not win share in 2026. Its rivals lost volume faster.
US EV sales by brand, H1 2026
| Rank | Brand | H1 2026 EV sales | Change YoY | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tesla | 242,100 | −10.9% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 2 | Chevrolet | 28,267 | −40.7% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 3 | Hyundai | 26,936 | −5.4% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 4 | Toyota | 21,855 | +136.3% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 5 | Rivian | 21,770 | +13.7% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 6 | Cadillac | 21,767 | +10.1% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 7 | Ford | 16,606 | −57.4% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 8 | Kia | 12,627 | −8.1% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 9 | BMW | 10,790 | −56.2% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 10 | Subaru | 10,064 | +54.8% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
Kelley Blue Book estimates, battery-electric only, as of July 9, 2026.
Grouped by parent company, General Motors’ three EV brands (Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC) sold 56,679, or 12.2% of the US market. Hyundai Motor Group (Hyundai, Kia, Genesis) sold 40,123 (8.7%), and Toyota Motor (Toyota, Lexus) 29,669 (6.4%), Axis Intelligence Research calculates. Toyota Motor’s combined US EV sales rose 127.7%, the only large legacy group to more than double.
The market’s floor held in the second quarter: 247,226 EVs sold, about 5.8% of new-vehicle sales, per Cox Automotive’s Q2 commentary.
Aidan Jad, EV & Clean Energy: Ford’s EV sales down 57.4%, BMW’s down 56.2%, Toyota’s up 136.3%. The federal credit ended for everyone on the same day, so the difference is product. The brands with a new, cheaper model on the lot held up; the brands leaning on ageing designs without a price reset did not.
What Are the Best-Selling Electric Car Models in 2026?
Two models dominate their home markets: the Tesla Model Y in the United States and the Geely Xingyuan in China.
Best-selling EV models in the US, H1 2026
| Rank | Model | H1 2026 sales | Change YoY | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tesla Model Y | 163,454 | +8.8% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 2 | Tesla Model 3 | 66,616 | −34.3% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 3 | Hyundai Ioniq 5 | 20,730 | +8.6% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 4 | Toyota bZ | 17,553 | +89.8% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 5 | Chevrolet Equinox EV | 16,249 | −41.4% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 6 | Rivian R1S | 11,677 | +1.5% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 7 | Ford Mustang Mach-E | 11,632 | −46.6% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 8 | Honda Prologue | 8,407 | −48.5% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 9 | Lexus RZ | 7,814 | +106.8% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
| 10 | Cadillac Lyriq | 7,578 | −18.7% | KBB / Cox Automotive |
The Model Y alone took 35.3% of US EV sales. Add the Model 3 and two Tesla nameplates account for 49.7% of the market, Axis Intelligence Research calculates. Only five of the top 10 grew: the Model Y, Ioniq 5, bZ, R1S and Lexus RZ.
In China, the Geely Xingyuan (sold abroad as the EX2) was the country’s best-selling car of any powertrain in 2025, with 465,775 retail sales, according to CPCA data compiled by CnEVPost. It sold 194,159 in the first half of 2026, down 5.26%, and still led the market.
Aidan Jad, EV & Clean Energy: The two bestsellers could not be further apart: a small city hatchback and a mid-size family crossover. That spread is the real map of where EV demand lives in 2026. China’s volume sits at the bottom of the price ladder; America’s is still one rung from the top.
Methodology
Collection. Axis Intelligence Research fetched every figure on this page from source documents on September 11, 2026: BYD’s HKEX announcements for December 2025 and June 2026; Tesla’s SEC 8-K filings for Q1 and Q2 2026; the Volkswagen Group and BMW Group H1 2026 delivery releases; Geely Auto’s 2025 results release; Kelley Blue Book’s Q2 2026 EV sales report published by Cox Automotive; and company monthly reports and CPCA retail data as compiled by CnEVPost. Each figure is a row in the CSV, with URL and retrieval date.
Like-for-like basis. Tesla sells only battery-electric cars. For BYD we use passenger BEV sales, excluding plug-in hybrids and commercial vehicles. For Geely we sum the company’s monthly BEV figures; those sums, added to the monthly PHEV figures, reconcile exactly to Geely’s official 2025 NEV total of 1,687,767. Volkswagen Group and BMW Group publish BEV deliveries directly. Chinese startup figures are brand-reported NEV deliveries and include extended-range models; they are shown separately and not mixed into the BEV comparison.
Axis calculations. BYD quarterly figures are sums of three monthly reports; BYD’s H1 sum matches its June HKEX filing (867,479). Growth rates are current period ÷ prior-year period − 1. US parent-group totals add Kelley Blue Book brand estimates. The EAMI formula and weights are stated in full above; all component values are CSV rows with axis_calculated = yes and the formula in method_note.
Scope. Kelley Blue Book US counts are estimates and exclude plug-in hybrids. BYD and Tesla quarterly comparisons use sales (BYD) and deliveries (Tesla), which are each company’s own headline measure. The EAMI covers the five groups that publish all three inputs for H1 2026; SAIC, Changan, Hyundai Motor Group and Stellantis do not yet report a global BEV split for that period in the documents we reviewed.
About This Dataset
ev-sales-by-brand.csv holds 214 rows: quarterly BYD and Tesla BEV volumes from Q1 2025 to Q2 2026; H1 2026 BEV sales for BYD, Tesla, Geely Auto, Volkswagen Group and BMW Group; January–August 2026 deliveries for Chinese EV makers; August 2026 China NEV retail by automaker; US EV sales by brand and model for H1 2026; Volkswagen Group model deliveries; and every EAMI component. Each row carries source_org, source_document, source_url, retrieved_date, is_primary and axis_calculated, plus a method_note formula for calculated rows.
License: CC BY 4.0. Free to reuse, including commercially, with credit: “Axis Intelligence Research, EV Sales by Brand 2026.”
Cite This Page
APA: Axis Intelligence Research, & Jad, A. (2026). EV sales by brand 2026: BYD vs Tesla, top automakers and best-selling electric models. Axis Intelligence. https://axis-intelligence.com/ev-sales-by-brand/
MLA: Axis Intelligence Research, and Aidan Jad. “EV Sales by Brand 2026: BYD vs Tesla, Top Automakers and Best-Selling Electric Models.” Axis Intelligence, 11 Sept. 2026, axis-intelligence.com/ev-sales-by-brand/.
Chicago: Axis Intelligence Research, and Aidan Jad. “EV Sales by Brand 2026: BYD vs Tesla, Top Automakers and Best-Selling Electric Models.” Axis Intelligence, September 11, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/ev-sales-by-brand/.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did BYD really overtake Tesla, or does that only count hybrids?
Both are true at different levels. Counting plug-in hybrids, BYD’s H1 2026 NEV sales of 1,808,511 were more than double Tesla’s 838,149 deliveries. Counting only battery-electric cars, BYD still led in H1 2026, 867,479 to 838,149, but Tesla won Q1 2026 by 47,634 units, per BYD’s HKEX and Tesla’s SEC filings.
How many battery-electric cars did BYD sell compared with Tesla in 2025?
BYD sold 2,256,714 passenger BEVs in 2025, according to its December HKEX filing. Tesla delivered 1,636,129 vehicles, according to its SEC filings. That is a ratio of 1.38 BEVs sold by BYD for every Tesla delivered.
Which EV maker is growing fastest in 2026?
Among large groups, Tesla’s H1 2026 deliveries grew 16.3%. Among Chinese makers, Zeekr’s January–August deliveries rose 100.40% and Leapmotor’s 70.55%, per company reports. In the US, Toyota’s EV sales rose 136.3% in H1, per Kelley Blue Book.
Why is Tesla first on the EAMI if BYD sells more electric cars?
The EV Automaker Momentum Index (EAMI) weighs volume at 40%, growth at 30% and battery-electric purity at 30%. Tesla nearly matches BYD on volume, grew while BYD shrank, and sells only BEVs. BYD’s BEV share of total sales is 48.0%, which caps its purity score.
What share of Volkswagen’s cars are electric?
Battery-electric cars were 10.6% of Volkswagen Group’s 4,125,700 global deliveries in H1 2026, per the group’s own figures. Adding its 246,000 plug-in hybrids and range extenders raises the electrified share, but BEVs remain about one in ten worldwide.
Which brand is second to Tesla in US EV sales?
Chevrolet, with 28,267 EV sales in H1 2026, per Kelley Blue Book. Grouped by parent company, General Motors is a clear second at 56,679 across Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC, or 12.2% of the market, Axis Intelligence Research calculates.
What is the best-selling electric car in the world’s largest EV market?
In China it is the Geely Xingyuan, known as the EX2 abroad. It recorded 465,775 retail sales in 2025, the most of any car in China, and 194,159 in H1 2026, according to CPCA data compiled by CnEVPost.
Are Chinese EV makers growing at home or abroad?
Mostly abroad. BYD’s domestic sales fell 32.72% in January–August 2026 while overseas sales reached 1,162,260, or 43.56% of its total. Geely’s exports were 35.6% of its sales in the same period, per company reports.
Related: Electric vehicle statistics · EV sales by country · Europe EV Statistics · EV adoption statistics · Electric Vehicle Index 2026 · US EV Statistics