BYD’s bet on EVs is paying off

Since it stopped building vehicles powered solely by internal combustion engines (ICEs) in 2022, BYD has become the world’s largest EV maker.

The Chinese automaker ranked sixth in global sales in 2025, surpassing Ford for the first time, with over 4.6 million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles sold.

While sales growth has slowed over the past few months amid new competition and shifting policies, BYD is seeing an uptick in EV demand as buyers seek alternatives amid rising oil and gas prices.

At one dealership in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, demand is so high that it booked a month’s worth of orders in just the past two weeks. “Clients are replacing units in favor of EVs because of the oil price hikes,” Dominique Poh, a salesman at the dealership, told Bloomberg. And it’s not just BYD that’s seeing more traffic in its showrooms.

A VinFast dealership about 1,100 miles away had to hire a few more sales workers after showroom visits quadrupled since the start of the war.

Switching to EV will help us significantly save money,” Lai The Manh Linh, who traded in his gas-powered Toyota Vios for a new VinFast 5 as his new daily driver.

A haven with rising gas and oil prices

A recent analysis from UK-based Ember found that the global EV adoption helped avoid 1.7 million barrels per day of oil consumption last year, or about 70% of the roughly 2.4 million barrels Iran exports through the Strait of Hormuz.

While Asia, particularly Southeast Asian countries like Thailand and the Philippines, has higher EV adoption rates than those of the US and Europe, at around 40%, they are still hit hard by rising oil prices.

About 40% of oil imported to Asia passes through the Strait of Hormuz. As a result, some countries, like Laos, are slashing EV registration and service fees, while raising them on comparable gas-powered cars.

Surapong Paisitpatnapong, spokesman for the Federation of Thai Industries’ automobile industry group, said that “We were previously less upbeat about EV demand in 2026, as the government’s lower subsidy made EV prices less attractive compared with conventional fuel-powered vehicles.”

“If oil prices stay at current levels or rise further, we expect a significant increase in EV demand,” he added. And Thailand isn’t the only country.

China is set to see the largest demand uptick as it produces more EVs than any other country, but other major markets, like the US and Europe, are also seeing buyers shift toward electric alternatives.

Shopping data from Edmunds showed that in the first week of March, consideration for electrified vehicles rose by more than 20% from the prior week. Most of the interest was in battery electric vehicles, and that was just the first week of March. Interest is likely much higher currently, with national gas prices closing in on $4.00 a gallon in the US.

In China, BYD aims to deliver the final blow to the gas and oil industry by offering free EV charging for 18 months on select EVs.

Learn more about how EVs are the best bet for energy independence: A reminder as oil prices spike: EVs are the #1 route to energy independence