Electric Vehicles Accounted For 10 Percent Of U.S. Sales In Q2 2024

Nearly 10 percent of light vehicle sales in the United States were electric vehicles during the second quarter (Q2) of 2024, with 9.96 percent of vehicles sold being EVs, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), hybrids, or fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) during the three months from April through June.

Per the report by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, electric vehicles are selling at a pace considerably higher than charging infrastructure is being built to support them, adding another wrinkle to the picture.

Sales market share of electric vehicles (including both all-electric EVs, hybrids, and other types) jumped 10 percent year-over-year from a 9.05 percent share in Q2 2023, and rose 6.6 percent quarter-over-quarter from Q1 2024, when these vehicles accounted for 9.35 percent of U.S. sales. In absolute terms, 386,221 electric vehicles were registered during the quarter.

Market share shrank by 3.8 percent for gasoline- and diesel-powered ICE vehicles. Meanwhile, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) saw their market share increase by 0.7 percent, PHEVs grew by 0.3 percent, and hybrids gained 2.9 percent. This data at least partly supports recent studies indicating booming consumer interest in hybrids compared to EVs.

However, charging infrastructure is seriously lagging the increase in electric vehicles on the road. With just over 10,000 public charging ports added in Q2, one port was added for each 39 electrified vehicles sold. Meanwhile, the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory says a million more public charging stations will be needed to meet the charging demand caused if EV sales reach 50 percent of new cars by 2030.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation study underlines the daunting scale of the task confronting infrastructure builders. To achieve a million public chargers by 2030, 451 new chargers will need to be installed every day for the next six and a half years, or roughly one every three minutes around the clock, for more than a half a decade.

The total cost is expected to be up to $127 billion, while about 25 percent of current chargers are located in California.

California also leads the country in EV registrations, with close to 27 percent of new vehicle registrations in Q2 2024 being of electric vehicles. Colorado, Washington D.C., and Washington State are close to 20 percent of registrations. Meanwhile, states with between 10 and 15 percent electrified vehicle registrations include Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon and Vermont.

GM, which originally decided to skip hybrids altogether, plans to reintroduce PHEVs to the U.S. market in 2027. The automaker is also working to make the upcoming 2026 Chevy Bolt EV America’s thriftiest EV, though it is likely to face vigorous competition for that title.