Reports of an electric vehicle (EV) sales slowdown this year have been a major focus for many automakers, but new data suggests that the downturn may not last as long as previously expected—and may not be as bad as many thought.
In a report on Tuesday, Bloomberg said that Q1 sales data makes the supposed EV slowdown in the U.S. look more like a blip, as many automakers saw sales continue to increase year over year. Concerns swirling around demand haven’t seemed to affect consumer purchases, and while Tesla deliveries were disappointing to some, the automaker remains the only high-volume EV maker in the U.S.
“We’re still seeing growth in demand, just not at the same pace for every brand,” said Stephanie Valdez-Streaty, Cox Automotive director of industry insights. “Right now Tesla doesn’t have new models, Ford doesn’t have a lot in the pipeline. But Hyundai, BMW, Kia, Cadillac — they’re really moving the needle forward.”
Tesla’s Model Y made up a little over a third of all U.S. EV sales in Q1, with about 35.4 percent of total market share. Meanwhile, the Model 3 (11.3 percent), Ford Mustang Mach-E (3.5 percent), Rivian R1S (2.9 percent), and Ford F-150 Lightning (2.8 percent) made up the rest of the top five models sold.
Credit: Bloomberg
Credit: Bloomberg
While some traditional automakers have recently aired concerns surrounding EV demand — and held off on EV investments, even due in part to Tesla’s year over year sales drop — some analysts note that they’ll need to reach volume EV production to even begin making a dent in the EV giant’s market share.
“Automakers are probably freaking out too much, as usual, but there is a bit of a Tesla issue,” says BloombergNEF’s Corey Cantor. “If they want to start taking market share, or even just perform at a high level, they need to start producing EVs at mass volume.”
Credit: Bloomberg
Regardless, Bloomberg is forecasting another jump in EV sector sales growth throughout this year, while other organizations like the International Energy Agency (IEA) are predicting even larger increases in sales volume.
Although no automaker other than Tesla has managed to sell over 100,000 EVs in a year in the U.S., the forecasts also suggest that Hyundai, General Motors (GM), and Ford could be on the runway to surpass that threshold. Bloomberg also says that, even if the global EV market remained at its current “slowdown” pace for the foreseeable future, it expects that virtually all vehicles would still be EVs in ten years.
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