U.S. EV share being driven by Tesla price cuts, registration data shows

U.S. market share for electric vehicles rose to 7.2 percent in the January to July period, according to new-vehicle registration data from Experian, with Tesla spurring demand with escalating price cuts throughout the year.

New U.S. EV registrations rose to 655,986 in the seven-month period for a 67 percent rise over the year-earlier period when EV share was 4.9 percent. Total new light-vehicle registrations for the seven months were about 9.1 million, the data showed.

Tesla had 390,377 registrations from January to July — a 50 percent increase compared with the year-earlier period for a 59.5 percent share of the EV market, the data showed.

In July alone, Tesla had 60,769 new registrations compared with all other EV makers combined with 48,566, Experian said.

Still, Tesla's EV rivals such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Rivian made significant share gains from last year, the data showed. Ford, Hyundai and Kia saw new registrations rise, but their market share slipped amid the increasing competition.

Because segment leader Tesla doesn't break out its global sales by region or country, the new-vehicle registration data serves as a reliable proxy. Some EV makers don't separate all their electric models from combustion counterparts or report monthly sales. July registration data is the most recent available.

J.D. Power, which estimated EV share at 8.5 percent of the light-vehicle market in July, credited Tesla with driving EV adoption. Tesla's price cuts have significantly improved affordability compared with combustion vehicles this year, said J.D. Power, which rates electric vehicles on a 100-point scale compared with gasoline vehicles.

"Affordability remains the highest-scoring factor at 97, driven by aggressive pricing from Tesla," said Elizabeth Krear, vice president of electric vehicle practice at J.D. Power, last month. "Although the affordability factor is approaching parity, it is skewed by the premium market, driven largely by Tesla's 63 percent EV market share."

In mainstream segments such as EV pickups and compact crossovers, the affordabilty score is 80 out of 100, J.D. Power said. And in the midsize crossover segment, there were no mainstream EV models in July, although Kia's three-row EV9 will go on sale this year.

As EVs are in more segments, adoption is expected to rise. J.D. Power expects EV market share to end the year at 9 percent.

Although Tesla's registrations rose at a red-hot pace in the January to July period, the results were uneven across its four-vehicle lineup.

Registrations for the Model Y compact crossover more than doubled in the seven-month period to 236,041, powered by price cuts starting in January and the automaker's new access to the $7,500 federal tax credit on Jan. 1. Tesla previously lost access to the credits in the old version of the tax rules after reaching its quota in 2020. The new version of the credit removed the quota.

Tesla's Model 3 compact sedan, which shares a platform with the Y, saw a 21 percent rise in new registrations in the January-July period to 131,381. Last week, Tesla presented a freshened version of the 3, which had not been updated since its 2017 launch. The freshened Model 3 is on sale in Europe for October delivery and is expected in the U.S. next year.

Registrations for the EV maker's flagship Model S sedan fell 51 percent in the January-July period to 8,493, Experian said, and registrations for the three-row Model X crossover dropped 14 percent to 14,462.

To boost sales, Tesla slashed prices on the high-end models in late August, pushing the Model X's price below $80,000 before shipping, which makes it eligible for the $7,500 federal EV incentives.

Including shipping, the Model X starts at $81,630. Last year, the Model X started at $122,440 with shipping. The Model S starts at $76,630 with shipping, compared with $106,440 with shipping last year.

Chevrolet was the No. 2 EV brand in January-July with 39,647 new EV registrations, representing a 6 percent share of the electric market. The Bolt EV and slightly larger Bolt EUV were responsible for all of the new registrations except for 25 new Silverado EV pickups. July was the first month the pickup was in the new EV registration data.

Ford was third, with 33,955 new registrations from its Mustang Mach-E crossover, F-150 Lightning pickup and E-Transit 350 commercial van. Ford's EV share fell to 5.2 percent from 6.9 percent in the year-earlier period. New Mach-E registrations dropped 18 percent from a year earlier, while the Lightning rose nearly fivefold to 11,883.

The Lightning's new registrations through July made it the bestselling EV pickup compared with 7,611 for the Rivian R1T. Tesla plans to launch its Cybertruck pickup in the coming weeks, but the automaker has said volume production won't come until next year.

Hyundai was No. 4 with 28,198 new registrations, marking a 61 percent increase over the year-earlier period and giving it a 4.3 percent share. Hyundai's EV share fell from 4.4 percent in the January-July 2022 period.

BMW was fifth in the EV race with 23,116 new registrations for a 3.5 percent share. In the year-earlier period, BMW new registrations were just 3,174 and its EV share was 0.8 percent. Its best performer through July was the i4 compact sports car with 13,821, the data shows.

At No. 6, Mercedes-Benz had 21,160 new registrations for a 3.2 percent share. Volkswagen was seventh with 20,046 in the seven-month period and a 3.1 percent share. Rivian was No. 8 with 18,359 new registrations for a 2.8 percent share. Kia was ninth with 17,073 for a 2.6 percent share, and No. 10 was Audi with 12,311 new registrations and a 1.9 percent share, Experian said.

On a corporate level, Hyundai Motor Group was No. 2 at 48,373, or 7.4 percent of the segment, leading No. 3 GM with 6.7 percent.