U.S. EV Registrations Accounted For 7.7% Of The Car Market In 2023

In 2023, all-electric car registrations in the United States exceeded 1.1 million for the very first time, far outpacing the growth rate of the overall car market. While questions remain about EV demand in 2024, there’s no doubt that last year was a landmark one for electric adoption. 

According to the registration data from S&P Global Mobility (via Automotive News), battery-electric cars made up 7.7% of total new, light-duty vehicle registrations in 2023. That’s up from 5.7% the year prior. (Note that registration data lags behind sales and deliveries by at least a few weeks, but it can be used as a proxy of sales, especially since not all sales numbers are publicly available—specifically on a monthly basis.)

The two percent increase in market share was possible to achieve thanks to a solid 52% increase in registrations to more than 1.1 million units, something also indicated in other reports.

That’s a positive outcome, although the growth rate in the final months of 2023 was weaker than average, declining to a 23% year-over-year increase in December.

According to the article, Tesla was responsible for a massive 642,496 new registrations, up 34% year-over-year. That’s about 56.2% of all EV registrations. More than half of Tesla sales fall on the Model Y (385,180 registrations), which alone accounts for a third of the entire all-electric car segment.

While that does mean Tesla and the Model Y remain firmly on top, it also means that the non-Tesla EV sales increased by some 84% year-over-year to 500,000, gaining a 43.8% share in the segment.

S&P Global Mobility’s data shows that Ford had 69,163 EV registrations, outpacing Chevrolet with 63,659 units. It’s worth noting a strong fifth position of Rivian (46,319), slightly ahead of BMW (42,997.)

BEV registrations (select brands) in January through December 2023:

• Tesla: 642,496 (up 34%) and 56.2% market share
• Ford: 69,163 (up 26%) and 6.0% market share
• Chevrolet: 63,659 (up 77%) and 5.6% market share
• Hyundai: 51,411 (up 62%)
• Rivian: 46,319
• BMW: 42,997
• Mercedes-Benz: 38,320 (up 243%)
• Volkswagen: 37,040 (up 84%)
• Kia: 30,868 (up 9%)
• Audi: 24,700 (up 54%)
• Nissan: 19,859
• Volvo: 13,319
• Toyota: 9,009
• Subaru: 8,753
• Cadillac: 8,633
• Polestar: 7,544
• Porsche: 6,809
• Lucid: 6,254
• Genesis: 5,660
• Lexus: 4,801
• Mini: 3,297
• Fisker: 1,445
• Jaguar: 443
• VinFast: 265