Rosco Jewell used to sell one used electric vehicle every two months on his Sydney online marketplace, Amazing EV, but since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran, he has been selling roughly one every two weeks.
How the Iran war is driving EV demand globally
Conflict in the Middle East has pushed up petrol and diesel prices worldwide, boosting demand for electric vehicles in numerous countries. In Vietnam, local brand Vinfast reported a 127 percent rise in year-on-year sales in March, while Japan’s EV sales nearly tripled year-on-year last month and South Korea saw domestic purchases surge by 172 percent.
What analysts say about the shift to electric vehicles
Euan Graham, an analyst at the energy think tank Ember, said the war on Iran has accelerated a trend of growing EV adoption in emerging markets, spurred by past energy shocks such as the war in Ukraine. He noted that countries facing fossil fuel shocks increasingly look for competitive alternative solutions, with EVs being one of them, and expects this to be a permanent shift in the pace of EV adoption in several countries.
For more on this story, see Iran War: Fuel and Fertilizer Shortages Hit Asian Rice Farmers.
EV trends in Australia and Europe
In Australia, battery electric vehicles accounted for 14.6 percent of total vehicle sales in March, nearly double the proportion recorded during the same month in 2025, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. In Europe, France recorded a three-fold increase in new registrations of Tesla cars, while Norway, Sweden and Denmark reported similar surges in new registrations for the EV brand.
This follows our earlier report, Trump Warns Iran Over Strait of Hormuz Oil Tanker Tolls.
Why are used EV prices rising in Sydney?
Rosco Jewell said it is now very hard to uncover used EVs to buy in the $20,000 to $50,000 range, with prices increasing by 10 to 15 percent and in some cases up to 20 percent due to heightened demand since the Iran war began.
What data supports the claim of rising EV sales in China and the US?
Chinese manufacturers reported an 82.6 percent rise in month-on-month sales in March, according to the China Automotive Dealers Association, while US EV sales last month topped 82,000 units, up by more than 20 percent from February, according to Cox Automotive.
Related reading