Electric vehicle (EV) sales in California have now turned negative: 101,443 all-electric cars were registered in the state in 2024’s second quarter, down from 102,730 in the second quarter of 2023.
The market share for all-electric vehicles has stagnated at around 21.9%, short of the state's target of 35% by 2026.
Tesla’s California sales dropped 24.1% in the second quarter, and nationally, Tesla sales dropped 6.3%. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Besides Tesla, other second-quarter EV losers include Volvo, down 66.5%, and Polestar, down 61.9%. Both brands sell EVs made in China, hit hard by heavy Biden administration tariffs. Volkswagen was down 34.5%. Chevrolet was down 50.6% — but that’s mainly because it discontinued the popular Chevy Bolt EV, with promises to reintroduce a new version.”
The decline in electric vehicle sales growth in California suggests that gas-powered cars are not going away anytime soon. The public still favors traditional vehicles, and efforts to push consumers towards electric alternatives have not been as effective as hoped. Forcing consumers out of their traditional cars is a complex and slow-moving process, indicating that a mixed approach to vehicle power sources may persist well into the future.
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