Electric Cars' Turning Point May Be Happening as U.S. Sales Numbers Start Climb

EVs are not yet mainstream, but there has been a 60% increase in new EV registrations, which is a sign that they are getting closer.

• Electric cars have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade, but the number of people who buy them has only increased a little bit over that time.
• However, in the first three months of 2022, EV registrations shot up a lot even as the overall market was down.
• As more Americans buy electric cars, the need for public charging stations grows. It is a continuing concern figuring out how to provide these charging stations for all of these early adopters.

Electric vehicles are becoming more popular in the United States. In the first quarter of 2022, there was a 60% increase in electric vehicle registrations, even though there was an 18% decrease in new car registrations overall. This shows that more and more people are starting to accept electric vehicles.

What Percentage of New Car Sales are Electric?

The sharp increase in electric-vehicle registrations at the start of 2022 meant that the EV share of the overall market in the U.S. hit a historic 4.6 percent. This may seem like a small number, but it is actually a big step forward for electric vehicles. Advocates for electric vehicles know that change happens slowly, but when it does happen, it happens all at once.

It is estimated that currently, around 1 percent of the 250 million cars, SUVs, and light-duty trucks on American roads are electric. However, this number is projected to grow significantly in the future. IHS Markit estimates that 25–30 percent of new car sales could be electric by 2030 and then 40–45 percent by 2035. Using these rates, Reuters estimates that by 2050 more than half of the vehicles on U.S. roads could be EVs.

This Automaker Has the Most Electric Car Sales

The number of EVs on the road is growing because there are now more models to choose from. Some popular models are the Ford F-150 Lightning, the Kia EV6, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5. In the first three months of 2022, 158,689 new EV registrations were recorded.

According to Automotive News, Tesla's electric cars saw the biggest increase in sales (59 percent to 113,882 new registrations), followed by Kia (up more than eight-fold to 8,450), Ford (up 91 percent to 7,407), and Hyundai (up more than 300 percent, to 6,964). This helped the electric car segment grow to a record 4.6%.

Automotive News reports that Experian found that the number of electric cars sold in the U.S. has increased a lot in the past year. Other industry analysts have different numbers, but they all agree that there has been a major increase. Cox Automotive's estimate is that 5.2% of cars sold in the first quarter of 2022 were electric, compared to 2.5% in 2021. It is clear that something is happening with electric cars.

You'll Guess Which State Sells the Most Electric Car Sales

According to an EV market report by Veloz, California has the most EV sales out of all 50 states. This is because a lot of people in California have electric cars. The U.S. Department of Energy also released data on electric-vehicle registrations in 2021. After California, the states with the most EV registrations are Florida (96,640), Texas (80,900), Washington (66,810), and New York (51,870).

Public Charging an Ongoing Concern

While more EVs on the road might seem like good news, some people are worried about what will happen when more people start charging their cars at public charging stations. Even though most EV charging happens at home, this isn't a solution for everyone. This means that public charging needs to be readily available so that everyone can benefit from the increase in EVs.

There is a lot of debate about whether electric vehicle charging infrastructure should be built first or whether there should be more electric vehicles on the road. Operators of DC fast-charging stations need eight to 10 charge sessions a day to turn a profit, but if there are not enough fast-chargers available, drivers will have to wait too long for a charge. It is still unclear what the right balance is, especially as EV sales surge.

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