Global demand for electric vehicles rose for a third straight month in May, as subsidies and high petrol prices continued to drive the transition away from combustion-engine cars, data from consultancy Benchmark Mineral Intelligence showed on Wednesday. Registrations of new battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles rose 3% from a year earlier to around 1.8 million in May, a proxy for sales, pushing the total 0.9% higher than last year for the first five months of the year, BMI said.