U.S. electrified vehicle sales skyrocketed 41% in first half of 2022, Urban Science says

Automotive consultant and technology firm Urban Science on Thursday released its 2022 midyear Automotive Franchise Activity report, which showed substantial increases in U.S. electrified vehicle sales in the first half of the year, particularly in the Southeast.

Urban Science said it included plug-in hybrids in the findings.

The report said that while overall industry sales dropped in the first half, sales of electrified vehicles skyrocketed 41 percent in a year-over-year comparison. The share of EV sales also increased, to 6.2 percent of all new-vehicle sales in the U.S. from 3.6 percent in the first half of 2021.

Two states drove the increase in EV sales, Urban Science said. California had the highest volume, with 133,920 in the first half of 2022 — representing one-third of total national EV sales. Florida came in at No. 2 and saw a 64 percent year-over-year increase to 33,006 EV sales.

The Southeast region overall has seen a 52 percent increase in EV sales during the period, Urban Science said.

"This uptick in Florida has led the entire Southeast region to be the fastest-growing region right now for customer popularity," Mitch Phillips, global director of data at Urban Science, told Automotive News.

New York, Texas and New Jersey had the next highest number of EV sales. Urban Science did not provide data on which states had the least.

The report also said there were five more franchised dealerships in the U.S. at the end of June than at the same point in 2021, bringing the national total to 18,235. The number of new-vehicle franchises in operation dipped to 31,579 at the end of the first half compared with 31,646 at the same time last year.

Urban Science said 99 percent of major and minor U.S. markets saw virtually no change in their dealership count. The report said California gained the most stores, adding 12 in the first half, while Michigan lost the most dealerships, decreasing by five.

Urban Science is forecasting average industry throughput — the number of new vehicles the typical dealership sells annually — to drop slightly in 2022 compared with 2021. As industry sales decline, U.S. dealerships are expected to sell 821 new vehicles on average this year compared with 826 last year.