Tesla remains king in US with 50% share of EV market, as big car makers get electric shy
NOVEMBER 24, 20236 COMMENTS2 MINUTE READJOSHUA S. HILL
FILE – A TESLA CHARGING STATION IS SEEN, SEPT. 28, 2023, IN WOODSTOCK, GA. FEDERAL PROSECUTORS HAVE EXPANDED INVESTIGATIONS INTO TESLA BEYOND THE ELECTRIC VEHICLE MAKER’S PARTIALLY AUTOMATED DRIVING SYSTEMS, AND THEY HAVE ISSUED SUBPOENAS FOR INFORMATION INSTEAD OF SIMPLY REQUESTING IT, THE COMPANY DISCLOSED MONDAY, OCT. 23. (AP PHOTO/MIKE STEWART, FILE)
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American electric vehicle (EV) giant Tesla remains the dominant player in its home market, accounting for 50 per cent of EV sales in the US during the first half of the year.
Data published by energy research giant BloombergNEF (BNEF) this week highlights Tesla’s continued dominance at home, outselling its rivals to the tune of “more than double the combined share of Detroit’s ‘Big Three’: Stellantis, General Motors, and Ford.”
The discrepancy between Tesla and its American rivals is further demonstrated by the fact that the company’s biggest rival, Chinese automaker BYD, doesn’t even sell passenger cars in the United States.
“There will clearly be a fast-growing US EV market, but the automakers who flourish may not be any of the legacy companies,” said Corey Cantor, BNEF’s lead EV analyst for the US market.
“The big-name EV companies of the future in the US may very well be Tesla, Rivian, Hyundai-Kia and Volvo.”
And despite the controversy Tesla CEO Elon Musk continually with his posts to X, formerly Twitter, the three US states leading the uptake of electric vehicles are all West Coast Democrat strongholds – California, Washington, and Oregon – highlighting the growing consumer attraction for electric vehicles.
In fact, in California, every fourth car sold is an electric vehicle, and the state also boasts the country’s highest share of EVs in its passenger-vehicle fleet.
Countrywide, EV sales in the US have already crossed a million units this year, already surpassing the 974,000 that were sold in all of 2022.
And Tesla still has another ace up its sleeve, with the first Cybertruck expected to be handed over on November 30 – though full-scale production of the boxy stainless-steel monstrosity is still months away.
BNEF also credits Tesla with managing to once again beat out its rivals with the timing of its Cybertruck – competitors which have been struggling with supply chain demands as well as the recent United Auto Workers (UAW) strike.
“It is interesting that the Cybertruck launch is coming just as GM has announced a delay in its second electric-truck plant in Michigan and Ford has reduced output of the F-150 Lightning plug-in, which saw a 46% fall in sales earlier this month,” said Cantor.
“Both Ford with its F-150 EV and GM with its Chevrolet Silverado EV had been given a lot of room to grow with Tesla staying out of the popular pickup space until now.”
The only American-based competitor Tesla may therefore have to worry about is Rivian, maker of the R1T ute and the R1S SUV.
