LOS ANGELES — Electrical car gross sales reached new heights through the first of the yr.
Between January and March, EV gross sales had been up 76% in contrast with a yr earlier, in keeping with a brand new electrified light-vehicle gross sales report from Kelley Blue Guide launched Wednesday.
EV gross sales notched the rise at the same time as new car gross sales total dropped 15.7%, hampered by world provide chain issues and an ongoing laptop chip scarcity that has constricted car availability. Pushed, partially, by excessive gasoline costs, EVs made up 5.2% of recent car gross sales within the first quarter, in contrast with 2.5% a yr in the past.
Elevated availability can be serving to spur gross sales. Greater than 32 electrical car fashions at the moment are in the marketplace, in contrast with 18 final yr. New entrants embrace the BMW iX, GMC Hummer, Ford F-150 Lightning, Kia EV6, Lucid Air and Rivian R1T.
The Kelley Blue Guide report got here out the identical day that Tesla reported a file quarterly revenue. The Texas-based automotive firm mentioned its gross sales jumped nearly 80% to $18.76 billion through the first quarter, beating analyst expectations. Tesla made about 930,000 EVs in 2021 and is concentrating on a 50% manufacturing improve yearly.
The Tesla Mannequin three and Mannequin Y are the bestselling EVs within the U.S. Tesla’s share of the EV market elevated to 75% through the first quarter in contrast with 70% a yr in the past. The Mannequin Y alone accounted for 38.2% of EV gross sales through the first quarter, whereas the Mannequin three made up 21%. The Chevy Bolt (9.1%), Ford Mustang Mach-E (6.7%) and Tesla Mannequin X (6.2%) spherical out the highest 5.
The Toyota RAV4 (18.69%), Toyota Sienna (8.48%), Toyota Highlander (7%), Honda CR-V (6.19%) and Honda Accord (5.33%) topped the record for bestselling hybrids.
— to spectrumnews1.com