EVs and plug-in hybrids accounted for 25.4% of California new car sales in the second quarter of 2023, reports electric vehicle advocacy group Veloz.
The actual number of vehicles with charge ports sold was 125,939, representing a new quarterly record for California, which typically leads the U.S. in plug-in car sales. The Q2 total was a 59% year-over-year increase from the Q2 2022 total of 79,129 vehicles.
Tesla charging
The California Energy Commission (CEC) reported 223,298 zero-emission vehicle sales in the first half of 2023, including 190,802 battery-electric vehicles, 30,729 plug-in hybrids, and 1,767 hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. The first-half totals for 2023 bring cumulative California zero-emission vehicle sales to 1,623,211 units, including 1,146,312 EVs, 460,602 plug-in hybrids, and 16,297 fuel-cell vehicles, per the CEC.
The numbers also bring year-to-date sales of all zero-emission vehicles to 24.3% market share in California, at a time when, nationally, EV sales are tracking at about 6% of total vehicle sales for this year.
2024 Jeep Wrangler
The Tesla Model Y and Model 3 were the two top-selling plug-in vehicles in California in Q2 2023, according to Veloz, followed by the Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid. So these latest sales numbers continue the trend of Tesla's EV lead gaining as a lot of other EVs encroach—and EV sales grow as a whole.
Tesla cracked 15% of the total vehicle market in California in 2022 and topped Toyota in Q2 2023 sales in the state. But Tesla's share in its former home state is shrinking, with this latest update indicating about 64% of the EVs sold in California were Teslas. This may be due to multiple factors. A recent Bloomberg report highlighted that some Tesla owners are souring on CEO Elon Musk, but Tesla also faces more competition than ever before.
