- U.S. EV sales hit 1.3 million in 2024, according to Cox Automotive.
- Tesla sold around 634,000 EVs, a 5.6% drop from 2023.
- Other automakers like General Motors, Hyundai and Ford filled the gap.
Given all the hullabaloo about electric vehicle sales stalling, sputtering and what have you over the last year or so, it’d be easy to assume that EVs had a terrible 2024. You’d be wrong. Now that the ink has dried on automakers’ annual sales reports, it’s clear that 2024 was a big year for electric cars in this country—even if Tesla didn’t do so hot.
Americans bought a record 1.3 million electric cars in 2024, Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book estimates, while several companies sold more EVs than ever. Sales of battery-powered vehicles grew by 7.3%, while the auto market overall inched up just over 2%. EVs claimed 8.1% market share. And momentum is squarely on the side of batteries and charging cords: In the back half of 2024, 700,000 new EVs changed hands, representing 8.7% of car sales.
Worldwide, the figures were even better. Research firm Rho Motion told Reuters today that global sales of fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids rose 25.6% year-over-year in December to 1.9 million, especially propelled by momentum in China. So while the U.S. is behind the rest of the world in EV adoption, it’s still growing at a steady rate here.
“Looking back at 2024, I think it was a good year,” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights at Cox, of EV sales. Compelling new models, plus incentives from automakers, the U.S. government and states helped drive more people into EVs than ever, she said. Hard-to-ignore deals subsidized by the federal “leasing loophole” slashed monthly payments and boosted EV leasing to new heights.
Don’t get me wrong. The American EV market didn’t grow nearly as swiftly as it did in years past, nor as rapidly as many analysts and automakers had once predicted. (EV sales shot up 49% between 2022 and 2023, a nearly impossible rate to sustain.)
But it was an up year overall, which is great news for the extremely necessary transition to cleaner cars.
Tesla Slumped, While GM And Hyundai Soared
So which companies were the big winners last year? Not Tesla, for a change. Its global deliveries fell for the first time in over a decade, and it lost ground in its home market too.
Cox analysts say Tesla sold around 634,000 EVs in 2024, a 5.6% drop from 2023. That’s likely due to an aging and narrow lineup, but also broader headwinds in the space, said Valdez Streaty. As the EV industry looks to go mainstream, manufacturers are bound to face more resistance than ever. Tesla isn’t immune to that.
Tesla’s sales slowed down in the U.S. and abroad in 2024.
Still, Tesla hung onto its lead as America’s biggest EV maker and claimed close to 50% of the electric market. Nobody else is even close, though other companies were instrumental in plugging the gap left by Tesla’s slump.
“What we saw was the other automakers showing pretty strong signs of growth, albeit from a much smaller base,” said Corey Cantor, an EV analyst at BloombergNEF.
General Motors crushed it in 2024, moving just over 114,000 electric Cadillacs, GMCs and Chevrolets. That’s thanks to a stable of heavy-hitters that it was finally able to mass-produce in 2024 following battery-assembly and software snafus.
The Chevy Blazer EV and Cadillac Lyriq racked up over 50,000 sales combined. The Chevy Equinox EV was GM’s real MVP. Americans snapped up 29,000 of them last year, including a whopping 18,000 in the fourth quarter alone. That’s what happens when you give people what they want: EVs that look great, go over 300 miles per charge and won’t break your budget.
Photo by: Motor1.com
The Chevy Equinox EV LT can be had for well under $30,000, factoring in the federal EV tax credit.
Hyundai Motor Group, purveyor of Hyundai, Kia and Genesis cars, also cracked the 100,000 EV mark for the first time in 2024. It’s dropped kick-ass EVs left and right over the last few years—head-turning cars with ultra-fast charging and great specs all around. That strategy continues to pay off.
Hyundai sold 44,400 Ioniq 5 crossovers, a 31% jump over 2023. Kia moved 22,000 of its three-row EV9 SUV in its first full year on sale. All told, the automaker shipped roughly 124,000 EVs, Cox estimates, earning it the coveted No.2 spot behind Tesla.
Even Ford, which didn’t release any new EV models in 2024—it’s pushed out its next-generation consumer EVs until 2027—ended the year with a bang. It moved almost 98,000 EVs, including a healthy 52,000 Mustang Mach-E SUVs and 33,510 F-150 Lightnings.
Year over year, Ford grew its EV sales by 35%.
BMW sold over 50,000 EVs in the U.S. for the first time between its four models: the iX, i4, i5 and i7.
And then there was the Honda Prologue. “That’s the one that I think surprised everyone, how well Honda did,” Valdez Streaty said.
Photo by: InsideEVs
The Honda Prologue was the surprise winner of 2024.
Nobody expected much from the Japanese brand’s first U.S.-market EV, which is really built by General Motors. Boy were they wrong. The Prologue wooed 33,000 buyers, despite only going on sale in the back half of the year. It proves that people really want EVs from brands they know, trust and believe to be reliable. Someone should really tell Toyota, which has been dragging its feet on EVs.
Despite having two EVs on the market with uncompetitive specs, Toyota and Lexus almost doubled their EV sales to just over 28,000 units. The automaker sold over a million electrified vehicles in the U.S., though—that is, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, EVs and hydrogen cars—which is also a win for the climate. All-in-all, Toyota had a banner year on hybrid sales in particular and that’s expected to continue in 2025.
Photo by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs
The 2025 Mercedes-Maybach EQS 680 SUV.
The two remaining major U.S. EV startups had up years too. Lucid Motors delivered a record 9,236 cars, while Rivian shipped 51,442 vehicles in the U.S., per Cox.
It wasn’t sunshine and rainbows for all, however.
Mercedes-Benz’s U.S. EV sales plummeted by almost 42%, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that the brand’s EVs were a miss on the design front. Volkswagen’s ID.4 crossover was under a stop-sale order for months last year, dealing a blow that the addition of the delightfully retro ID. Buzz van couldn’t balance out. A surprise tariff on Chinese-made vehicles dashed Volvo’s hopes to bring its low-cost EX30 EV to the U.S. for most of last year, so the brand’s sales suffered.
What’s Next For EV Sales?
Cox expects another year of gradual growth. It forecasts that 1.6 million new EVs will change hands in 2025, making up a landmark 10% of auto sales. Hybrids, meanwhile, are expected to claim 15% market share, meaning that one in four cars sold in 2025 will be electrified in some capacity.
Over a dozen new EV models will launch in the coming year, expanding options for buyers on the fence. The Hyundai Ioniq 9 will add a new three-row option for bigger families. The Ram 1500 Ramcharger will arrive as the first of a new breed of “extended-range EVs,” cars with gas generators that boost the distance they can cover between fill-ups. The 2026 Chevrolet Bolt should be a much-needed affordable option. Tesla has teased a new car too, but it’s been characteristically opaque about its plans.
Photo by: Hyundai
The 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9 arrives this year.
Charging infrastructure, a continual sore spot for EV buyers, will get better, building on the over 200,000 plugs installed as of December.
But 2025 will likely be a difficult rollercoaster of a year for EVs. As demand growth slowed and automakers restrategized in 2024, it became clear that the switch to electric propulsion won’t be smooth, quick or easy.
Now that the fanatical early adopters have largely been satisfied, the magnitude of the challenge facing the auto industry has come into focus. Automakers need to win over mainstream buyers, who have more serious qualms about range, access to charging plugs and vehicle price, analysts say. Interest rates are still elevated and consumers feel squeezed by years of high inflation.
Meanwhile, electric cars remain more expensive up front than gas equivalents, and the new models coming out this year do little to change that. To reach escape velocity, the EV market needs a wide range of cars that match entry-level gas cars on price.
“Again, that kind of elusive $30,000-$40,000 price range looks pretty empty,” Cantor said.
Not to mention, President-elect Donald Trump wants to shred policies that benefit EV buyers and sellers. A worst-case scenario could spell the end of the $7,500 tax credit for plug-in purchases, the subsidy for clean-car leases and more.
Cox assumes that any changes to EV policies under the new administration wouldn’t be felt until after 2025. And besides, Valdez Streaty said, the horse has left the barn. Policies and competition around the world will make sure of that.
“We’re going to go electric,” she said. “The ship has already sailed.”
Got a tip about the EV world? Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
