Brussels has spent two years trying to slow Chinese EVs at the border, and Chinese exporters just had their best month yet.
China shipped 278,081 electric vehicles to the rest of the world in April, which is 40% more than the same month last year, according to Bloomberg data.
The growth is concentrated in two regions that are supposed to be hardest for Chinese automakers to crack.
China's EV exports to Brazil rose 221% year-over-year in April to 38,144 vehicles, which made Brazil the single largest destination for Chinese-made electric cars anywhere in the world.
Two years ago, Brazil barely registered as a market - and now it's the top. The growth tracks alongside a major BYD push in the country and Brazil's own ramp of EV-friendly tax treatment.
For investors watching the global EV race, this is the data point that says it's no longer a US-vs-China story.
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April imports of Chinese EVs into the European Union jumped 36%, making Europe the second-biggest market for Chinese-made electric cars.
That happened even with EU tariffs and ongoing concern that imports are hollowing out European auto manufacturing.
The tariffs are slowing the math, not the trend - European buyers are still picking Chinese EVs, and the volumes keep climbing.
Earlier this year, China crossed a line that gets less attention than it should, with EV exports surpassing exports of fossil-fuel cars for the first time. That's the inflection point Beijing has been pushing toward for a decade.
There's a footnote worth flagging - an energy think tank reported that China's revised emissions reporting method may have erased as much as half of the rise in CO2 levels over the past five years.
The EV story is real. The climate accounting under it is suddenly less so.
The next data point is whether Brazil holds the top spot or if Europe takes it back as the EU works through its tariff response.
China is now selling more electric cars to the rest of the world than gas-powered ones, which means the export number is no longer a side story for Chinese automakers.
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