US EV Sales Rise As Tesla Sales Fall
Last Updated on: 15th April 2025, 12:13 pm
EV sales in the United States rose 11 percent during the first quarter of 2025, to about 300,000 cars and light trucks, according to Cox Automotive. That is much better than the overall new car market, which showed no increase from 2024. Overall, about 8 percent of new domestic car sales were electric, Cox said, a slight increase from 2024. “Despite many obstacles — and what you may read elsewhere — electric vehicle sales continue to grow at a healthy pace in the US market,” Cox said.
One electric car company that is not experiencing growth is Tesla. It still is the electric car sales leader in the US, with 44 percent of the market according to Cox Automotive, but a year ago in the first quarter it had 51 percent of the market. Its performance in the US mirrors its performance globally. Tesla sales in March were 337,000 cars worldwide, 13 percent fewer than in March of 2024. CleanTechnica readers know the reasons — an aging selection of models, poor sales of the Cybertruck, increasing competition, retooling production lines for the new Model Y, and Musk’s embrace of MAGAlomaniac policies which has led to protests at Tesla dealerships and alienated many buyers.
Sales of the Cybertruck were 6,400 in the first quarter — double the total from a year ago — but the company was just ramping up production last year, so any comparison is skewed. The true test of what is happening with the Cybertruck is the fact that Tesla now refuses to accept them as trade-ins for new Tesla vehicles, a policy no other manufacturer has ever instituted. If Tesla doesn’t want its own vehicles, why would anyone else? It is now attempting to boost sales by lowering prices on decontented models, but would you buy any vehicle if you knew the manufacturer would refuse to give you ten cents for it after you take delivery?
The big winner appears to be GM, which delivered 10,300 Chevy Equinox EV cars in the first quarter, a strong showing for a car went on sale toward the end of last year. The Chevy Blazer EV is now in showrooms and enjoying strong interest from customers. All together, sales of GM electric cars, including Cadillac and GMC, accounted for 11 percent of the electric vehicle market in the first quarter — up from 6 percent a year earlier. While GM suffered through slow and sometimes painful product launches for its electric cars in 2023 and 2024, those models are now starting to see significant numbers of sales.
GM Is An EV Sales Leader
More than 30,000 EVs from General Motors brands were sold last quarter, nearly doubling the volume from a year ago and passing both Ford and Hyundai along the way. The Ford Mustang Mach-E was the best selling EV in the US that was not a Tesla, while Honda and Acura added more than 14,000 EVs to the US market last quarter. That’s up from zero a year ago. Anyone who tries to say the EV revolution in the US is dead is either misinformed or lying.
The rest of 2025 will likely be a volatile one for EV sales in the US, despite the introduction of new models. If the new auto tariffs hold, they will pose a monumental challenge for many automakers, particularly due to the tariffs on steel and aluminum. About two-thirds of the EVs sold in the U.S. last year were assembled in the US, but like all modern automobiles, the required parts and components are sourced from around the globe. China is the world’s leading supplier of EV battery materials, which suggests the current tariff war between the US and China will distort the market significantly.
The current so-called president loves nothing more than forcing others to “kiss his ass,” as he is so fond of saying. How classy. Add to that the heavy speculation that the new administration will reverse Biden-era EV sales incentives and the story for EV sales in Q2 and beyond is murky at best. Cox Automotive analyst Stephanie Streaty said, “The year certainly started strong, but the road ahead will be anything but smooth.”
EV Sales Are Up Worldwide
A week ago, my colleague Jose Pontes reported that sales of EVs — both plug-in hybrids and battery electrics — were up 49 percent in February 2025 compared to February 2024 and now account for 19 percent of the global new car market. In Norway, well over 95 percent of all new cars have plugs and Pontes speculated that Singapore will likely be the next new car market to become virtually all EVs. It should be noted that EV incentives in many countries have been reduced or eliminated recently. Germany in particular has sharply curtailed its incentive program, which led to a steep drop in EV sales in 2024.
However, in the first few months of this year, EV sales in Europe have been up strongly — up 17 percent in February despite the overall market being down 3 percent. That last stat should grab your attention. Globally, new car sales are declining. Fewer new cars are being sold, and more of them are battery electrics or plug-in hybrids.
And yet, the mood in America about electric cars is still quite chilly. The major US automakers have a plan to counter the new tariff insanity from the Moron of Mar-A-Loco and it is this — build more pickup trucks and large SUVs. The furor over Elon Musk’s fascist diatribes has had a knock-on effect on all electric cars because, for the past decade or more, America has associated electric cars with Tesla. In my condo community in DeSantistan, a modest proposal to add two EV chargers is facing opposition from owners who are convinced they will make their insurance premiums go up and subject their pets to electrocution. We have neighbors who still tell us we cannot drive our Tesla through a puddle or take it to a car wash.
Fortunately, despite their mania for bigger, heavier vehicles, Ford and GM have kept their electric car programs alive, with Chevrolet now the leading electric car company not named Tesla. The Equinox EV is selling well and the Blazer EV is now readily available after a rocky start caused by software glitches forced the company to suspend production for a while to figure things out. The new updated Chevy Bolt will be in production soon. Hyundai now has its first dedicated EV factory in operation near Savannah, Georgia, and continues — along with Kia — to offer Americans a selection of appealing electric and plug-in hybrid models at affordable prices.
The EV revolution in the US may be taking longer than many of us had hoped, but it continues to build momentum. EV advocates like to tout a long list of benefits that come from owning an electric car — no oil changes, no smelly gas pumps, no transmission repairs, fewer brake jobs, etc. — but the best reason to own one is the driving experience. People need to feel the effortless flow of instant power, the joy of regenerative braking, and the quietness of the ride for themselves. It is like the difference between an old fashioned propeller-driven airplane and a jet. Once you experience it, there is no going back.
Also see:
- Non-Tesla US EV Sales Up 472% vs. 2021!
- Tesla Model Y & Model 3 Continue to Dominate US EV Market — But …
- Auto Brands Leading the US EV Revolution — CHARTS
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