Electric cars are starting to take over the world

This article is part of our ​“Chart of the Week” series.

Electric vehicles may be struggling to find buyers in the U.S. — but they’re making inroads elsewhere.

A record-breaking 28% of new cars sold this year will be battery-powered, according to new data from the International Energy Agency. That’s a big deal: Driving around in gas-guzzling vehicles spews tons of planet-warming and health-harming pollution into the atmosphere.

The latest projections come even as the Trump administration’s attacks on electric vehicles stymie sales in the U.S., the world’s second-largest car market. The country is a massive laggard when it comes to EV adoption, with electric models making up just around 10% of new car sales. New EV sales are expected to decline for the second year in a row in the U.S., though used models are surging in popularity.

But outside the U.S., the picture is very different. The clearest example of that contrast is China, the world’s biggest car market and the global leader in electric vehicle and battery manufacturing. Nearly 60% of cars sold in China this year will be electrified.

EV sales are growing rapidly across the rest of Asia, too. This year, sales are expected to leap by over 50% across Asian countries other than China, IEA found, driven in large part by the availability of super affordable Chinese EV models.

In Europe, which has strong emissions standards that push consumers toward EVs, sales are growing especially fast. This year, EVs will make up one-third of new cars sold in the region, powered not only by EV-adoption poster child Norway but also by rapid uptake in Germany, the U.K., and Turkey.

It’s worth emphasizing that these figures are for new car sales only. It will take longer for EVs to become the most popular type of car on the road: Right now, they make up just about 5% of the global car fleet.

Still, we’re well past the peak for gas car sales, and the trends are in favor of EVs. By 2035, the IEA expects half the new cars sold worldwide to be EVs. In China and the E.U., 90% of new cars could be EVs by that time.

And then there’s the war in Iran, which has caused the price of gasoline to surge and even resulted in fossil-fuel shortages in some countries. The crisis is adding more urgency to the transition to electric vehicles, particularly for nations that rely on imported oil. As EVs get cheaper and the volatility of fossil fuels becomes more apparent, economics may start to drive the transition from gas cars faster than climate goals ever could