US electric car sales jumped to an impressive record high last quarter

Electric car sales in the United States jumped to a record high of over 200,000 vehicles during the last quarter (Q1 2022).

It’s a good sign, but the US EV market is still extremely reliant on Tesla and California.

The United States is trailing far behind Europe and China when it comes to electrifying its passenger car market. There are many factors at play, including weaker incentives and a preference for pickup trucks, which is a segment that is just now being electrified.

But, we are starting to see a significant increase in EV adoption over the last year, and this last quarter was particularly important for EV adoption in the United States.

Using data from the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB), Veloz published a new report on EV sales in the United States that shows a record number (over 208,000) of electric vehicles delivered in the country during Q1 2022.

The increase in gas prices and a big Super Bowl EV ad push seem to have helped push deliveries to a record high last quarter.

While this is a good sign for EV adoption in the United States, the market is still highly dependent on California buying electric vehicle.

Veloz reports that EV sales jumped 29% last quarter to 81,292 EVs:

California’s EV market continues to grow! This was the state’s strongest quarter for EV sales to date. With 81,292 electric vehicles sold this quarter, EV sales are 29% higher than last quarter. Q1 of 2022 surpassed Q1 of 2021 numbers by over 20,000 vehicles.

California bought 39% of all EVs in the United States so far this year, despite representing only 12% of the US population.

It looks like it is going to be big years for EVs in California:

Stronger incentives in the state often result in automakers launching new EV models in California first and giving local dealers bigger allocations of EV models.

As we previously reported, the US EV market also primarily relies on Tesla, which still owns 75% of the US electric car market so far this year.

The market is in need of more EV models in order to ramp up adoption, and it looks like it’s finally happening this year, especially with electric pickup trucks hitting the market like the Rivian R1T and Ford F-150 Lightning.

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