Recent EV Sales Data Shows Tesla Facing Stronger Competition

What’s the current state of electric vehicle sales in the U.S.? That’s not as easy a question to answer as it might seem. Headlines featuring the industry bear with them a blend of good news and bad. On one hand, GM may not be on pace to meet its EV production goals for 2025; on the other, there’s a growing market for used electric vehicles. EV doomsayers and evangelists alike have some backing for their arguments of choice.

Still, when it comes to actual EV sales in the U.S., we do have some hard data from which to draw conclusions, and those conclusions may well spark feelings of optimism. Citing data from S&P Global Mobility, Mark Kane at Inside EVs pointed out that May 2024 sales data continues a positve months-long trend for EVs in the U.S. Or, to put it anther way, EV sales in the U.S. have risen each month this year from February to May.

Perhaps the most interesting piece of data from these findings has to do with Tesla’s role in all of this. Here, too, there were some contradictions: Tesla sales were down overall from the same time last year, but Teslas were still responsible for the highest number of EV sales in May. In other words, the EV marketplace is diversifying, and Tesla’s no longer the only game in town for EV buyers.

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According to Inside EVs’ own data, the majority of battery electric vehicle registrations in the U.S. so far this year came from non-Tesla EVs. That still puts Tesla in the pole position, if you will — but it also means that Tesla’s competitors are gaining ground. Inside EVs also points that incentives have sweetened the deal for some buyers — including incentives of over $15,000 each for two different Kia models.

If there’s one takeaway from this data, it’s that the EV industry remains in flux — but with more options available to buyers, that sounds like a positive development.