The last quarter of 2024 saw the most sales of electric cars in any quarter in US history, with an estimated 365,824 vehicles moved in total, up 15.2% year-over-year for a total of 1.2 million sales for the year. Most brands did well, of course, though there are a few interesting quirks in the data. Tesla, in particular, was the biggest loser by volume, while Honda grew the most.
Of course, Tesla is the biggest maker of electric cars in the world and still cornered more than 44% of the total market in the United States last quarter. That’s a reduction for Tesla, which has the ultimate first-mover advantage, though losing 37,000 vehicles year-over-year is roughly the equivalent of David misplacing a 10 mm socket (He’s got plenty). All of this data comes via Cox Automotive, which has pulled together posted sales data and unposted registration data to make these estimates.
Even with the introduction of the Cybertruck, Tesla relies on its most popular vehicles (and America’s most popular EVs) the Model 3 and Model Y. The Model 3 was revamped last year and a revision of the Model Y is coming, but until that happens Tesla has had to lean on incentives and financing deals to move extra cars. Neither car has had a true second generation, which is what a normal company would do. Tesla isn’t normal, which is probably why it’s the biggest EV automaker.
Here are the top-selling EV models if you were curious:
- Tesla Model Y
- Tesla Model 3
- Ford Mustang Mach-E
- Hyundai Ioniq5
- Tesla Cybertruck
- Ford F-150 Lightning
- Honda Prologue
- Chevrolet Equinox
- Cadillac Lyriq
- Rivian R1S
The Mach-E is notable as the third most popular EV, even if Ford loses money on them and is rapidly trying to replace it as the entry-level vehicle with a skunkworks-developed $25,000 electric car. Tesla reaching fifth with the Cybertruck is impressive, and it’s technically the most popular vehicle over $100,000 of any kind in America. There’s no surprise on the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which is a popular EV and a competitive alternative to the Model Y. It’s also getting a refresh soon.
Again, be amused that Ford sells a ton of Lightnings despite losing money on them. All new EV automakers lose money, including Tesla for years, so it’s not that abnormal. Selling these cars also helps reduce the amount of money Ford needs to give companies (like Tesla, for instance) in emissions credits. The Prologue has been discussed at length here and it’s just edging out its platform-mate Chevrolet Equinox and Cadillac Lyriq.
Given that GM sells multiple models on the Ultium platform it’s probably not fair to compare it to Honda, which just sells the Prologue and its twin the Acura ZDX. Here’s a fun graphic showing how year-over-year sales for different EV brands changed from 2023 to 2024:
GM didn’t gain as much as Honda, but Honda entirely lacked an EV option until last year so that’s not quite as far of a comparison. The growth of Hyundai, GM, Ford, and BMW is impressive given that 2024 wasn’t their first year in the market. Also, GM is probably the only other automaker here besides Tesla that is overall profitable on EVs at the moment. Toyota and Subaru, like Honda, were essentially new to the market in 2004 as well.
What are the standouts here? On the negative side, Geely brands (Volvo, Polestar) underperformed, which is mostly the fault of Polestar, which saw a big sales decline in 2024. Mercedes, too, isn’t looking so hot here. Even with Tesla dropping the most as it faces a competitive market, Volkswagen is the biggest disappointment.
Even with the massive stop-sale on the Volkswagen ID.4, it’s just a sign that Volkswagen’s current generation of vehicles isn’t cutting it right now. More new vehicles are on the way, including the ID.Buzz and new Macan, which should help. It’ll still be a competitive market, though, as Cox notes:
The EV market in the U.S., as it is in China and Europe, is hypercompetitive: Of the 68 mainstream EV models tracked by Kelley Blue Book, 24 models posted year-over-year sales increases; 17 models were all-new to the market; and 27 decreased in volume, including models being discontinued such as the Chevrolet Bolt and Mazda MX-30.
Obviously, a part of the rush to buy EVs in the fourth quarter was both a reaction to increased incentive spending by automakers at the end of the year and uncertainty over President-elect Trump’s plans regarding IRA tax credits for EVs. Will that hold into this year?
Cox Automotive expects further EV sales growth in 2025. With more than 15 new products scheduled to enter the market, improving charging infrastructure, and continued support (i.e., generous incentives) from the automakers, sales of EVs will likely account for close to 10% of total sales this year, according to the Cox Automotive Forecast.
While policy changes in Washington might slow the growth, those changes likely won’t take effect for some time, and many buyers might jump in before changes are made. Cox Automotive is expecting 2025 to set another record for EV volume. In fact, in the year ahead, one out of every four vehicles sold will likely be electrified in some way – a hybrid, plug-in hybrid or pure EV.
Even if President Trump manages to revise the Inflation Reduction Act, and that’s a big “if” at this point, there will be some warning and it’ll probably cause a rush for credits. Either way, EV growth may have slowed down from the pre-pandemic explosion of Tesla sales, but they’re likely to continue to grow into the foreseeable future.
A minor correction: the Chevy Blazer is the GM sibling to the Honda Prologue. The Blazer, Lyriq, Prologue and ZDX all share the same underpinnings. The Equinox is also Ultium, but is a size slot lower. So, sure, it’s a platform mate, but so would be the Silverado by that measure. The Blazer is the closer analog and the Prologue blew it out of the water (the Blazer also doesn’t make much value sense given how close in size the Equinox is and given how much cheaper it is)
Tesla loosing ground is no surprise. I would have bought one if Musk wasn’t the figure head. I can’t be the only one.
Youre not. I bought a Mach E instead of a Tesla and he is the only reason
do you think maybe we have just reached “peak tesla” anyone who can afford a tesla and wants one probably has one by now. I know that there will always be a suply of fresh graduates and new drivers every year but how much more growth can there possibly be? unless they add new product to their lineup… where is the three row cybertruck platform suv?
Can someone please explain why Carplay is such a big deal in your purchases? I don’t understand how that is a line in the sand item.
I dunno, 20 years ago me driver is still the same as 20 years later driver. I don’t gove a shit about infotainment.
Once you use it daily in another car, to take it away is like going back to the stone age. It just makes doing things you do all day so much easier because you don’t have to think about how to do them differently from one car to the next (like mapping to a place, texting your family/friends (with siri/etc) listening to podcasts or your music on your preferred streaming app.
Sure you can do most of those things with a modern infotainment system, but none of them do it as well as your phone and your phone is what is being projected onto the vehicle’s oftentimes massive screens. Think about it this way – do you get into a rental car and login to all of your various accounts to use Spotify, apple music or whatever? Load your entire phone’s worth of contacts to be able to make calls? No? Well Carplay doesn’t care. You just project your own phone – no futzing required.
I think the egregious thing here is that Carplay/Android Auto have been commonplace on cars since around 2017. Any car company willingly taking away a feature that is so popular is HIGHLY suspect. They certainly have ulterior motives when it comes to data harvesting.
Same for me. For the longest time I thought all I needed was an aux cable or bluetooth and I’d be fine but after using AndroidAuto for the past few years it’d be very difficult to go without it. For all the same reasons you mentioned, if I drive my car or my wife’s car or whatever I plug my phone in and the screen is the way I like it.
If I am in a rental car, it is to get somewhere. I’m not having a Joe Rogan or Hawk Tuah time on the drive.
If it’s my car, I bought it for a reason…to drive it. And, if I don’t know where I am going before I get behind the wheel? Well, that explains a lot.
I’ve got nothing against Maps/Nav or anything, but I’m not delivering pizza. Waze on my phone w/speakerphone enabled is just fine if I am going someplace random, or driving from Detroit to Reno. I don’t need a babysitter to go to Kroger.
That’s what I am saying.
I’ll also add that (while I’m sure I am an outlier) there are days I only touch my phone maybe three times. Once in the morning to see if there are any emails/ (probably drunk) texts I missed, or to check the weather for the day. And then at night to put it on silent.
I text from my laptop, and have anything else integrated into it and my Garmin watch. I don’t bank from my phone, I don’t watch tv on my phone (that’s why I bought a tits TV for, lol) I don’t do shit on my phone. Heck, I might not even read the paper when I take an actual shit, some days.
I just don’t get people anymore. Maybe it has to do with all the time working on the railroad, where phones are verboten. I usually know where my phone is at, but I rarely reach for it.
Definitely an outlier. I’m at the tail end of Gen X and while I’m not using my phone all the time, i’m certainly using it to stream music while I’m in the car on my boring ass commute to drop my kid off at school or drive home from work. Music is off when I’m actually “driving”. Commuting is another story. If I had a 911 thinks would be different.
So am I, but I don’t have 12 pages of Mapquest or anything. lol. I better know the general direction I am heading, otherwise I’m going to die from stupidity.
As far as streaming as a mandatory thing when driving? I don’t HAVE to listen to Beats, Rhymes, And Life every morning. I’m just fine with the background noise of whatever. Again, if my soundtrack on an errand drive dictated my life, I SHOULD die from stupidity.
I mean, I’m not about to look at the full list of directions to a place, try to memorize it, and quiz myself umpteen times to make sure it took before I get in my car. Plus, if I miss an exit or make a wrong turn, “recalculating…” and then new directions is a lot more convenient than pulling over or finding a parking spot (especially in a city!) to search that way.
The verbal directions are good, but the visuals can be useful when there’s a bunch of intersections coming up, or really complicated intersections.
And, of course, it doesn’t have to be podcasts…just your music in general! It’s a lot easier to use with Android Auto/Carplay than whatever the car’s system is.
I use my phone at home a lot more, but I also work from home so it’s not really comparable.
See my reply above. Same story. I agree if it is a situational thing that needs to be precise for arrival, then it is very nice to have, but that is rarely the case in my life.
I try to avoid “having” to be anywhere, anymore.
“Once you use it daily in another car, to take it away is like going back to the stone age. It just makes doing things you do all day so much easier because you don’t have to think about how to do them differently from one car to the next (like mapping to a place, texting your family/friends (with siri/etc) listening to podcasts or your music on your preferred streaming app.”
You’ve just listed things I either do very rarely (mapping – how many times am I going somewhere I’ve never been before?) or literally never done while driving. If I need navigation and there’s no integration, my phone just gets propped on the dash. It has its own screen anyway, how convenient. Not really anything here to sway a big ticket purchase.
Propped on the dash? Doesn’t it fall over with a tight turn or similar?
A big part of why I upgraded my car to Android Auto was because there was no “ideal” place to mount the phone–I’d either create a new blind spot out the window or windshield, block a vent, block indicator lights, or have to look away from the road if I mounted it in my armrest.
I mean, I go places/routes I haven’t been fairly frequently. And the difference between a 6.5″ screen and a 9″ screen that’s solidly affixed to the dashboard is functionally enormous.
HAHA – propped on the dash is a great one. FFS. Anyway, I live in a dense city and have been here nearly 30 years. Mapping is crucial to a commute because even though I know how to go from work to home a dozen different ways, taking my “usual” way may mean horrific traffic. Trust me, not mapping a destination ahead of time to check the real-time traffic on google maps is a huge mistake where I live and can mean the difference between 20 minutes drive to 2 hours drive.
I wish I had carplay. My main reason: Google maps on my phone is current now. The navigation maps supplied by the manufacturer of my car is as old as the car. They want to sell me newer maps for $150, still not current.
Think what was Ford trying with sync. Failed, as the 1st gen was pretty much bluetooth and that’s it. Later could do more but so could everyone.
Carplay is marketing more than anything
Correct. When I got my Caddy, I told them under no circumstance am I paying for CUE. I told them if it is there for no cost, fine. But, All I wanted was the 2.0 T, AWD, and remote start. Whatever else that is involved with that better be under $300/month.
I drove it off the lot in 2 hours..at $229/month. Mission accomplished.
We just signed a lease on a new Chevy Equinox EV. Very nice car. And its not a Tesla. I feel many others will buy them and others just because its not a Tesla also.
Try finding an ID.4 Standard or S in a showroom right now, and you’ll see how much things have shifted for VW now that they’re offering heavily discounted leases on 2024 inventory. One dealership I talked to over the weekend said that they had moved 25 of them during the week. Now, obviously that’s not a sustainable model, but I think their Q1 sales figures will likely show that they’ve made a big dent in the slightly misleading year-to-year deficit this shows due to the door handle recall.
I cant wait for the new Chevy Bolt, I hope is the equivalent of the Chevy Trax price wise. GM lineup is very competitive, you have options to choose for every type of budget.
“Volkswagen is the biggest disappointment” is the quote here that can be taken out of context and still be relevant to pretty much everything. This is coming from a VW/Audi fanboy, but there isn’t a model in VW’s showroom right now that I’d want to buy over any alternative from another manufacturer. The ID.Buzz would be the exception if it wasn’t ridiculously priced. I’d consider an Audi Q6 etron but I’ve yet to see one in the flesh and they are also priced aspirationally.
Honda outselling GM is funny and is likely a result of GM abandoning carplay. My wife and I are in the market for a car like that, and while the Prologue seems like a decent option, the GM ones are immediately nixed because no carplay is a dealbreaker.
GM had to have known that would end up happening.
100% agree on this one. The equinox is actually pretty decent looking but no carplay is a non-starter for me.
A
not sostunning self own by GM.Selling good vehicles that have one unignorable glaring flaw is business as usual for GM. Don’t worry though, they will fix it for the final model year after the decision has already been made to cancel it.
In addition to Carplay, there are probably a number of people who are “Honda people” that haven’t had any BEVs available before now. Also, if I’m choosing between a Chevy or a Honda that are otherwise identical, why would I choose the Chevy? So I can go to a Chevy dealer? So I can (logical or not) have worse resale value? Why?
Just to clarify, the graphic just shows year-over-year changes. GM sold a bunch of Bolts and other cars in 2023 so it didn’t have as much room to grow. Honda sold basically no EVs in 2023.