Tesla May Be in a Sales Slump, but EVs Are Doing OK Overall

only a few By 2025, Electric vehicles It’s already been a roller coaster ride of a year last week, Tesla The bumpy trip started when it reported that, for the first time, the reigning champion of American EVs delivered fewer cars globally than the previous year. The automaker has delivered 1.789 million vehicles in 2024, down 1.1 percent from the 1.808 million it delivered in 2023. Tesla shares fell 8 percent on the news.

Then, on Friday, more annual sales numbers appeared, and the EV story got rosy around the edges. General Motors It said it sold 50 percent more electrics than last year, with its Chevrolet Equinox EV SUV leading the charge. Honda’s Prologue EV, which went on sale halfway through the year, moved 33,000 units — a coup for the Japanese automaker’s U.S. electric debut. even FordWhich last year said it would All electric sales lag behind growth plans In favor of a mix of EVs, hybrids and gas cars, more than 50,000 have been sold Mustang Mach-Es

Global EV sales numbers likely won’t be fully consolidated until next month, but analysts say that in the U.S., electric vehicles appear to be on track to account for 8 percent of all car sales in 2024.

So maybe “roller coaster” is a bit dramatic. In many ways, the EV sales story—even the Tesla subplot—is playing out the way most everyone in the industry thought it would. In the first part of the decade, “people thought there would be this crazy hockey-stick growth for EVs,” said Stephanie Brinley, a principal automotive analyst at S&P Global Mobility. “It was not realistic. The way we see the market developing is more realistic.”

“Everyone is moving slowly,” said Corey Cantor, a senior associate who covers electric cars at BloombergNEF, electric cars and their manufacturers.

faint optimism

No one said the transition to electric vehicles was going to be easy. Electrifying “is one of the biggest changes the auto industry has seen—and the auto industry doesn’t change overnight,” said Evan Drury, director of insights at automotive website Edmonds.

Building an all-new powertrain—and sourcing Battery minerals to power it – only half of the challenge. Changing people’s buying habits, especially for one of the most expensive purchases of their lives, will be the other half. Given these limitations, “it’s remarkable that we’ve seen so much change,” Drury said.

Even Tesla’s bump in the road could be seen as evidence that CEO Elon Musk’s automaker is doing something Right in 2006, Musk announced his “Master plan“which Tesla’s “overarching purpose” lays out: “to help move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy to a solar electric economy, which I believe is the primary, but not the exclusive, sustainable solution.” The reason for Tesla’s annual growth challenge , in part, the gambit has worked and there is now much more global competition in the EV space. Tesla officially lost its title as the world’s leading EV maker last year to China’s BYD, which last year produced about 4,500 electrics a year (Tesla still sale More EVs, with a serious help (from Chinese buyers, who bought 8.8 percent more of the automaker’s EVs last year than in 2023.)

Whether the global vehicle electrification project will stay on track comes down partly to policy. In the US, EV sales jumped in the last quarter of the year. That’s likely because consumers have heard about the new Trump administration’s plans to scrap electric vehicle incentives and Consult experts to buy a new car while they can still get the subsidy. What happens in 2025 when those purchase incentives are gone?

Even with higher sales figures to come, the figures for 2024 show an industry moving along as it should. “It’s a crazy transition,” says Brinley, an analyst of the shift to electric vehicles. But he’s confident: “We’re going to see more adoption,” he says.