Uruguay EV Sales Report: Sales Soar in August as Market Share Reaches 56%!

Electric vehicles are taking over car sales in Uruguay, a small South American country that's become an unlikely leader in the shift away from gas-powered cars. In August, EVs made up 56% of all new vehicle sales there, with fully electric models (as opposed to gas-electric hybrids) accounting for 51%. That means roughly one in two cars sold in the country that month ran entirely on electricity. Sales have jumped 171% compared to a year earlier, and the country has gone from 5% EV market share to 50% in just two and a half years.

The main driver seems to be simple economics: Uruguay has the most expensive gasoline on the continent, and EVs have become the better financial choice for many buyers. A new tax on imported EVs is set to start in 2027, but it stays well below what gas-powered cars already pay, so it's not expected to slow things down much. As electric cars take a bigger share of the market, sales of traditional gas and hybrid vehicles have fallen 16% so far this year.

None of this changes rebate programs or incentives available to homeowners elsewhere, but it's a sign of how quickly a country's car market can flip once electric models become cheaper to own and run than gas ones. Tesla has not yet begun deliveries in Uruguay, so this growth has all happened without it.