5 EV trends in latest U.S. registration data

New U.S. registrations for battery-electric vehicles surged in April, according to the most recent data from S&P Global Mobility. Surprisingly, Tesla wasn't part of the rally but Toyota was, the data showed.

Overall, new EV registrations rose 14 percent in April despite Tesla's 17 percent drop. Full EVs captured a 7.4 percent share of the light-vehicle market for the month, up from 7 percent in April 2023, the data showed.

April's upbeat numbers came with caveats. Popular electric models bore heavy factory incentives. And EV share in the January-April period came in at 7.1 percent, which was mostly flat compared with a year earlier.

Because Tesla doesn't break out its U.S. sales, and some other automakers don't report EV sales by model, new-vehicle registration data serves as a proxy for automaker delivery numbers, but with a lag of several weeks.

Here are five top trends from S&P Global Mobility's latest numbers.

As electric vehicle sales shot up in 2022 and 2023, Tesla volume surged thanks to its dominant position. In 2023, Tesla's U.S. registrations rose 34 percent and it captured 56 percent of the electric segment.

This year, however, its registrations were down 11 percent in the January-April period. And its share of the electric segment has fallen to 50 percent from 60 percent in the year-earlier period, S&P Global Mobility said.

"A couple of years ago, we were all talking about how Tesla was the only EV brand doing well and everybody else was struggling. And now it's the reverse," said Tom Libby, associate director of industry analysis at S&P Global Mobility.

Tesla's poor showing this year comes almost entirely from plummeting registration numbers for its popular Model 3 sedan, still the No. 2 electric vehicle by registrations in the U.S. market.

Model 3 registrations fell in April 55 percent and are down in the January-April period by 54 percent, S&P Global Mobility said. Tesla's other models, including the Cybertruck, were higher in the four-month period.

Part of the Model 3's struggle, analysts say, comes from updates to the sedan at the start of the year.

In January, Tesla freshened the Model 3 in the U.S., after doing so in Europe last year. Tesla said in April that the factory switchover caused supply constraints. Also in January, all versions of the sedan lost access to the $7,500 federal tax incentive for EV purchases because of changes in requirements for battery sourcing.

"Because the Model 3 is down so much, it's bringing Tesla down — and Tesla is bringing down EVs overall," Libby said.

Model 3 numbers could improve. The car's middle trim, the long range with all-wheel drive, became eligible for the EV tax incentive in mid-June, Tesla said. The freshened performance trim became eligible in late April.

Excluding Tesla from the April data, EV registrations rose 69 percent, S&P Global Mobility said.

Ford was the No. 2 EV brand for the month with a 169 percent increase in registrations to 8,309 vehicles. The Mach-E was its best performer, followed by the F-150 Lightning, which nearly doubled its April registrations to 2,509, S&P Global Mobility said.

Hyundai was No. 3. Its April registrations rose 75 percent to 6,355. The Ioniq 5 crossover nearly doubled its numbers from a year earlier to 4,078, and the Ioniq 6 sedan more than doubled its registrations to 1,603, the data showed.

Kia, which shares a corporate parent with Hyundai, was No. 4 with a 172 percent gain to 5,340. U.S. registrations for the EV6 crossover nearly doubled to 2,178. The EV9 crossover, a new model not available in April last year, had 1,578 registrations, the data showed.

Data from Motor Intelligence showed that some of the best-performing EV models for the month received significant help from April's factory incentives.

Toyota's bZ4X crossover had incentives of $10,963 per vehicle, compared with just $718 in April 2023, Motor Intelligence said. That helped lift the bZ4X to 4,666 registrations in April, compared with just 625 a year earlier, S&P Global Mobility said. The crossover is Toyota's only battery-electric model in the U.S.

April incentives for the Ford Mustang Mach-E electric crossover were about $9,000 versus $877 a year earlier, the data showed. Mach-E registrations nearly quadrupled year over year to 5,358.

Incentives for Nissan's Ariya crossover rose to $16,828 in April from $5,133 a year earlier, the data showed, and its registrations doubled to 1,556 in the same period.

Tesla launched its highly anticipated Cybertruck in November and has been working to ramp up production. CEO Elon Musk said in June that Cybertruck production reached 1,300 a week.

At the same time, Tesla has had to deal with multiple recalls of the pickup, which is likely to become the best-selling electric pickup in the U.S. once more trucks make their way to waiting customers.

In April, Cybertruck registrations hit 2,181, more than in the first quarter overall, S&P Global Mobility said. In the January-April period, Cybertruck registrations reached 3,972, the data showed.

Ford's F-150 Lightning had 2,509 registrations in April and 11,098 in the January-April period. The Rivian R1T had 858 registrations in April and 2,644 in the first four months of the year, S&P Global Mobility said.

Chevrolet's Silverado EV had 729 registrations in April and 1,532 in the January-April period, the data showed. The GMC Hummer pickup had 279 in April and 679 in the first four months of the year.