Electric vehicles

Axios - Soaring fuel prices are helping to boost electric vehicle sales in many countries, but the effect in the U.S. has been muted, fresh data shows. There's early evidence that the Middle East crisis is juicing demand for low-emissions energy tech, and EVs are an important piece of the puzzle.

Fully electric cars are estimated to hold steady at nearly 6% of U.S. new vehicle sales in the third quarter, per Cox Automotive, with modest and uneven growth in absolute volume terms (see above).

• That's the same percentage as the prior three quarters, after sales fell off a cliff when federal subsidies vanished.
• The share was higher and climbing, and peaked at 10.6% in Q3 of last year as buyers rushed to tap the expiring tax credits.

Yes, but: Higher gasoline prices, along with rising availability, are a factor behind used EV sales hitting a fresh record this quarter, Cox analysts find.

• EVs were 2.8% of the used car market in Q2 and Q3.

The intrigue: The report also sees market strength for hybrids, which suggests that pump prices' impact is spread across different kinds of powertrains.