Electric vehicles represented less than 14 percent of new car sales in California through the first three months of the year, the sector’s lowest market share since 2021, according to new data from car dealers.
What happened: California drivers purchased roughly 57,000 EVs between January and March, nearly 40,000 fewer vehicles than the same period last year, according to the California New Car Dealers Association.
The EV market share slump mirrors the industry’s struggles in November and December, when just 12.8 percent of new cars purchased were electric models. EV sales peaked at nearly 25 percent during the third quarter of last year, as car buyers rushed to use a $7,500 federal tax credit that the Trump administration ended in September.
Why it matters: The sustained decline quells hopes that California’s EV market would quickly rebound after the elimination of federal tax credits. EV market share had previously hovered around 20 percent in recent years.