All-electric car sales continue to increase in the United States almost reaching a six-digit number of new registrations in May.
According to the registration data from Experian (via Automotive News), the total number of BEV registrations, during the first five months of 2023, amounted to 447,514, which is 68 percent more than a year ago and about 7 percent of the total market (up from 4.6 percent at the time in 2022).
Registration data lags behind sales/deliveries, by at least several weeks, but can be used as a proxy of sales, especially because not all sales numbers are publicly available (specifically on a monthly basis).
Tesla remains the largest player in the battery-electric vehicle segment with 270,698 registrations (up 51 percent year-over-year) and 60.5 percent share (compared to 67.4 percent a year ago).
The non-Tesla BEV registrations amounted to 176,816 (up about 103 percent year-over-year) and 39.5 percent share. Thanks to a higher rate of growth, the market share of non-Tesla BEVs is gradually increasing.
BEV registrations in January-May 2023:
- Tesla (60.5% BEVs): 270,698 (up 51%)
- Non-Tesla (39.5% BEVs): 176,816 (up about 103% from roughly 87,000)
- Total: 447,514 (up 68%) and 7% market share (up from 4.6% in 2022)
Overall, some 99,256 new BEVs were registered in May, compared to 348,258 in January-April.
Brands
When it comes to BEV sales, there is an order of magnitude difference between Tesla and its closest competitors (brands).
Tesla registrations in May amounted to nearly 59,000 and over 270,000 during the January-May period. During the first five months, Chevrolet noted 29,282 units, while Ford noted 22,425 units.
Among other brands, Volkswagen has 14,094 registrations. Data for other brands are not available.
BEV registrations (select brands) - January-May 2023:
- Tesla: 270,698 (up 51%) and 60.5% share (down from 67.4%)
- Chevrolet - 29,282 and 6.5% share
- Ford - 22,425 and 5.0% share
- Volkswagen - 14,094 ("more than tripled")
Models
In terms of the best-selling models (most registered to be precise), the Tesla Model Y is far ahead of others with almost 168,000 registrations and 37.5 percent share of the BEV segment.
Automotive News points out that the price reduction applied by Tesla in the first half of the year, allowed Tesla to more than double Model Y sales year-over-year. In May alone, there were 40,359 new Model Y registrations in the US.
The Tesla Model 3 is also growing, but only by 18 percent year-over-year to 87,200 during the first five months of 2023. In May, there were 14,941 new Model 3 registrations - 2.7x less than in the case of the Model Y.
The only Tesla model that is not growing is the Model S. The manufacturer also shifted its focus on the export of this model.
Interestingly, the Volkswagen ID.4 happened to be the closest competitor to the Tesla Model Y so far this year in the electric crossover/SUV segment, as the Ford Mustang Mach-E weakened. Below we have listed models for which data are available.
BEV registrations in the US (select models) - January-May 2023:
- Tesla Model Y - 167,900 (up 103%) and 37.5% share
- Tesla Model 3 - 87,200 (up 18%)
- Volkswagen ID.4 - 14,094 ("more than tripled")
- Ford Mustang Mach-E - 10,948 (down 29%)
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 - 10,406 (down 3.4%)
- Tesla Model X - 10,263 (up 7%)
- Kia EV6 - 6,780 (down 29%)
- Tesla Model S - 5,335 (down 59%)
- Nissan Ariya - 3,501 (new)
- Toyota bZ4X - 2,985 (up 1,558%)
- Subaru Solterra - 2,442 (new)
- VinFast VF 8 - 128
