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Cox Automotive collects the most extensive data on US EV sales, through its long famed and respected arm Kelley Blue Book. In the opening paragraph of its latest report on the market, the company provided a slight silver lining: “At 216,399, EV sales in Q1 were lower by 7.8% compared to the previous quarter, an improvement and suggesting the sales drop after government-back incentives were terminated has slowed. In Q4 2025, sales were lower by 36% year over year and 46% quarter over quarter.”
That was to be expected, and it is indeed a good sign. Year over year, EV sales were down 27% in the 1st quarter, better than being down 36%. However, apparently, the EV share of the broader auto market was the same in both quarters — just 5.8%. That’s barely more than half of the 3rd quarter 2025 record 10.6%.
But stepping back further, the US market really doesn’t have much to proud of. A peak of 10.6% EV share is not good. It’s embarrassingly low for a record high if we compare to China or Europe. Some Latin American countries are even well beyond the US record — Costa Rica had 19.1% EV share in the 4th quarter of 2025 and Uruguay had 23.6%. The US just can’t keep up. Other Latin American countries may be shooting past us soon.
But it was looking at the three-year EV sales and market share chart from Cox Automotive that really struck me and brought a new level of disappointment. Here it is:
This just shows that even before this “Trump Slump,” as one reader intelligently coined it, EV sales and market share have basically been stagnant for years. US EV market growth had more or less stalled.
Yes, before 2023, especially going back to 2021, the US EV market was much smaller in both regards (volume and market share), so starting the chart in Q1 2023 hides the relatively recent growth that has occurred. That said, really, three years of stagnation is disappointing, lame.
The world is moving forward without us. Be are complacent laggards addicted to old technology and inefficient vehicles and systems. Europe is at 20% of its vehicle sales being fully electric. The world leader in EV sales, China, is at 27%. The US is not even at one third of Europe’s level and is barely more than one fifth China’s level. We are truly a disappointing nation at the moment.
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