Plug-in electric light vehicle sales in the U.S. 2016-2022

Plug-in light vehicle (PEV) sales reached nearly 918,500 units in the United States in 2022. U.S. sales of all-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles peaked that year, after a first increase in 2018 as deliveries of Tesla's Model 3 picked up steam.

The road to consumer adoption 

While the sale of electric vehicles has picked up steam in the United States, consumer purchase intentions are still below traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. 23 percent of U.S. consumers considered purchasing a fully electric vehicle when buying a car, according to the Statista Consumer Insights survey, compared to 64 percent of consumers considering purchasing a regular gasoline vehicle when buying a car. The cost or price premium of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) was U.S. consumers' main concern as of October 2022, followed by BEVs' driving range and the time required to charge a vehicle. In an attempt to boost electric vehicle adoption, the U.S. government has allocated financial incentives for the purchase of such vehicles.     

New players and market leaders

Tesla dominated the U.S. electric vehicle market in 2022, selling over half a million BEVs in the country that year. Ford and Chevrolet completed the top three, making the three best-selling BEV brands in the United States all domestic manufacturers. This success has attracted electric vehicle startups such as Lucid Motors, which produced the battery-electric vehicle with the longest driving range as of Model Year 2022, and Rivian. However, these companies are yet to be profitable, reporting net losses during the 2020, 2021, and 2022 fiscal years.