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Tesla leads EV sales to more than double in the US, still account for only 2.5% of auto market

by Fred Lambert

August 24, 2021

Electric vehicle sales have more than doubled during the first half of the year in the US. Tesla is leading the charge with still a majority of the market, but EVs still only account for 2.5% of the overall auto market. For years now, Tesla has been dominating the electric auto market in its home country.

It is expected that Tesla’s hold on the market will erode as more EV options hit and help grow the US market, but for now, the US EV market is still extremely dependent on Tesla. For the entire year of 2020, Tesla vehicles accounted for 79% of new electric vehicles registered in the US.

During that period, the automaker led an 11% increase in electric vehicle sales in the market. It didn’t sound like much, but the results were impressive considering that broader car sales were down in 2020 due to the pandemic. Now we are getting new registration data from Experian for the first half of 2021.

According to the firm, electric vehicle sales are up to 214,111 units in the US versus 98,351 units during the same period last year. That’s 117% growth year-over-year. Tesla is still dominating the market with about 66% of the entire EV market in the US.

GM comes in second with a distant 9.6% of the market thanks to the Chevy Bolt EV, and Ford in third with 5.2% thanks to the Mustang Mach-E. According to Experian, while EV sales more than doubled during the first half of the year in the US based on registration data, it still accounts for only 2.5% of the US auto market. We recently reported that EV sales reached 64% market share in Norway recently.

Electrek‘s take What’s interesting in the US market right now is that the two top-selling EV brands, obviously including Tesla by a wide margin, don’t have access to the main EV incentive in the market. It goes to show that every new mass-produced EV model with compelling specs and pricing can make a big difference.

The US market needs more EV options, and they are coming. Over 100% growth is good, but only 2.5% of the US auto market is disappointing. However, don’t let that fool you because it is going to change fast.

Single events in the short term will have a significant impact, like the start of VW ID.4 production in the US. In the mid-term, the arrival of electric pickup trucks will greatly accelerate EV adoption in the US.

We are just starting to hear about volumes in the electric pickup segment. Ford might be a bit disappointing with a planned capacity of only 80,000 Ford F-150 Lightning by 2024, but they will add up between the Lightning, Tesla Cybertruck, Rivian R1T, Chevrolet Silverado Electric, and more.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see over 500,000 electric pickup truck deliveries in the US in 2024, which I am sure most auto analysts wouldn’t agree with.

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