US: All-Electric Car Sales Increased To 165,000 In Jan-Feb 2023

Non-Tesla BEV sales expand very quickly, but Tesla maintains a huge market share.

Tesla Model Y

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Apr 13, 2023 at 9:07am ET

Add InsideEVs as a preferred source in Google

Comment

All-electric car sales in the United States do not slow down and the results during the first two months of the year are significantly higher than in 2022.

According to the registration data from Experian (via Automotive News), Tesla noted 95,829 new registrations (up 35 percent year-over-year) in the January-February period, which translated into a 58 percent share out of the total BEV segment.

This allowed us to calculate that the total number of BEV registrations is around 165,000, and that non-Tesla BEV registrations amounted to probably over 69,000 units (up 151 percent year-over-year).

Registration data lags behind sales/deliveries, by at least several weeks, but can be used as a proxy of sales, especially because not all numbers are publicly available (specifically on a monthly basis).

Those are pretty strong numbers. The entire all-electric car segment expanded by probably 67 percent year-over-year during the two-month period. The market share is most likely above 7 percent (it was 7.1 percent in January).

BEV registrations in January-February 2023:

Tesla (58% BEVs): 95,829 (up 35% from 71,188)
Non-Tesla (42% BEVs): probably over 69,000 (up 151% from roughly 27,500)
Total: probably roughly 165,000 (up 67%) and over 7% market share

It's very good news that other brands are also ramping-up production and sales, while Tesla is gradually losing its market share (from 72 percent in Jan-Feb 2022 to 58 percent this year).

During the first two months of the year, Chevrolet and Ford were the only two other brands with more than 10,000 units sold. Both companies have a high potential for future growth - General Motors because its Ultium platform is in the initial ramp-up phase, while Ford increases the production of its BEVs as well.

We gathered all of the available data for your convenience below. There are many interesting things, like Volkswagen (local ID.4 production) ahead of Hyundai. Rivian now appears to be 6th, ahead of Kia.

BEV registrations (select brands) - January-February 2023:

Tesla - 95,829 (up 35% from 71,188) and 58% share (down form 72% a year ago)
Chevrolet - 13,919 (up from 92) and 8.5% share
Ford - 10,610 (up 116% from 4,921) and 6.4% share
Volkswagen - 7,151 (up 250% from 2,041)
Hyundai - 5,105 (up 25% from 3,999)
Rivian - 4,295 (up from 321)
Kia - 4,238 (down 8.3% from 4,623)
BMW - 4,092 (up from 116)
Mercedes-Benz - 4,004 (up 221% from 1,248)
Nissan - 2,822 (down 1.6% from 2,868)
Audi - 2,727
Polestar - 2,113
Lucid - 1,063
Toyota - 983
Subaru - 929
Lexus - 3
VinFast - 1

In terms of the best-selling models (most registered to be precise), the two at the top are the Tesla Model Y and Model 3. Both increased year-over-year, although Automotive News noted that the growth rate slowed down, despite price reductions.

Well, the market situation is challenging and the ongoing increase in sales simply requires making BEVs affordable for a wider and wider group of consumers. On top of that, competition is waking up with BEV-dedicated platforms.

Other popular models in the country are the Chevrolet Bolt EV/Bolt EUV (specifically because its affordability after deducting the $7,500 federal tax credit), Volkswagen ID.4 and Ford BEVs.

The Tesla Model S is now outside of the top 10, but we must note that in this case, it might be related to the beginning of export.

The Lexus RZ 450e and VinFast recently noted their first registrations during the period.

BEV registrations in the US (select models) - January-February 2023:

Tesla Model Y - 57,583 (up 71%)
Tesla Model 3 - 32,411 (up 15%)
Chevrolet Bolt EV/Bolt EUV - 13,919 (up from less than 100)
Volkswagen ID.4 - 7,151 (up 250%)
Ford Mustang Mach-E - probably 5,993
Ford F-150 Lightning - 4,617
Tesla Model X - 4,332 (up 62%)
Hyundai Ioniq 5 - 3,783
BMW i4 - 2,835
Rivian R1T - 2,744
Kia EV6 - 2,586 (up 17%)
Polestar 2 - 2,113
Nissan Leaf - 1681
Kia Niro EV - 1,652 (down 31%)
Rivian R1S - 1,551
Tesla Model S - 1,503 (down 78%)
Nissan Ariya - 1,141
Lucid Air - 1,063
BMW iX - 1,061
Toyota bZ4X - 983
Subaru Solterra - 929
BMW i7 - 196
Lexus RZ 450e - 3
VinFast VF 8 - 1

* some numbers calculated from the source

Premium/luxury segment

In the premium/luxury car segment, Tesla is far ahead of other brands and the advantage is only getting bigger and bigger.

What do you think?

View

Comments

Not everyone perceives Tesla as equivalent to other premium brands (an apple-to-apple comparison), but as of now, the automotive industry lists Tesla among the premium/luxury brands.

Premium brand registrations in the US - January-February 2023:

Tesla: 95,829 (up 35% from 71,188)
BMW: 56,756 (up 5.4%)
Lexus: 45,468 (up 1.2%)
Mercedes-Benz: 41,727 (up 5.4%)
Audi: 36,046 (up 44%)