Record-Shattering EV Sales Continue in Q1 2023 as California Reaches the 1.5 Million EVs Sold Milestone Two Years Ahead of Schedule

Record-Shattering EV Sales Continue in Q1 2023 as California Reaches the 1.5 Million EVs Sold Milestone Two Years Ahead of Schedule

Veloz is proudly celebrating the shared victory of California reaching 1.5 million cumulative EV sales well ahead of earlier projections. With an astonishing 124,053 new electric vehicles sold in Q1 2023 — now California’s highest quarterly sales to date — California’s EV market drastically eclipsed the 33,165 EVs sold in Q1 2022, which is a 153% jump year-over-year. This increasingly consistent growth trend, along with California’s cumulative EV sales number exceeding 1.5 million this quarter, shows that the needle is moving quickly in the direction of 100% transportation electrification.

The EV market achieved a long-term benchmark goal at the end of 2022 by reaching nearly 19% of the market share of new vehicle sales in California. That number has continued to rise as more electric makes and models, available charging infrastructure, and incentives draw in more consumers to go electric. Electric vehicles now compose 21.1% of California’s market share in Q1 2023 and, while there is still a long road to achieving California’s ambitious goal that sales of all new passenger vehicles will be zero-emission by 2035, this continued market share growth reflects the EV market’s accelerating transition from the early adopters into mass adoption.

EV adoption in the United States reflected the trends we saw in California with the highest quarterly EV sales to date in Q1 2023. We anticipate this market growth to continue throughout 2023 due to increased federal support for electrification that came with the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, the recent cost-cutting measures taken by automakers, and the upcoming proliferation of charging infrastructure funded by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program. Industry experts from Consumer Reports and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy are hopeful that these measures will help to quickly break down consumer barriers, resulting in the exponential growth of EV adoption in the near future. Furthermore, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest proposal, which includes strict new automobile pollution limits, would ultimately lead to nearly two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to being electric by 2032 if enacted.

Top 10 Selling EVs in Q1 2023:

1. Tesla Model 3                                 6.   Hyundai IONIQ 5
2. Tesla Model Y                                 7.   Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
3. Tesla Model X                                8.   Chevy Bolt EUV
4. Tesla Model S                                 9.   Toyota Prius Prime
5. Ford Mustang Mach-e                  10.  Volkswagen ID.4