Americans bought electric cars at a lightning pace in the first half of this year, according to new data from Experian. Registrations for EVs more than doubled, with 214,111 on the books through June, up from 98,351 in the first half of 2020. And America’s own Tesla led the way with a healthy slice of all new registrations.
The data, which Automotive News reported on Friday, shows Tesla vehicles made up two-thirds of all new EV registrations, with the closest competitor being Chevrolet. The Bowtie brand continues to push into entry-level EVs with the 2022 Chevy Bolt EV and Bolt EUV. It held 9.6% of new registrations. Behind it is Ford, a newcomer to these lists. The automaker’s newly launched Mustang Mach-E electric SUV helped it move into the top three, with 5.6% of new registrations. That’s an impressive pace, given it’s Ford’s first mainstream EV.
Despite the jump in registrations, the US is a long way off from fully embracing electric cars. EVs still only accounted for 2.5% of all new registrations. That’s up 1% from this time last year, but a far cry from the Biden administration’s goal to make half of all new cars sold EVs by the end of this decade.