U.S. BEV Registrations Exceeded 100,000 For The Second Time Ever In October 2023

Non-Tesla all-electric car sales almost doubled year-over-year, while Tesla noted only small growth.

Dec 13, 2023 at 3:33pm ET

In October, the number of new all-electric car registrations in the United States increased once again.

According to the registration data from Experian (via Automotive News), the total number of battery electric car (BEV) registrations during the first ten months of 2023 amounted to 955,509, which is about 58% more than a year ago and about 7.4% of the total market (up from 5.6% at this same time in 2022).

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The all-electric car market is growing

Regardless of many media reports, the all-electric car market in the United States is growing, reaching over 950,000 new registrations through October (up 58% year-over-year), a record 7.4% market share, and the first six-digit monthly volumes.

Next month, when November registration data arrives, we should see more than one million new BEV registrations. Sales of the 1,000,000th unit in November was recently announced by BloombergNEF.

Registration data lags behind sales/deliveries, by at least several weeks, but can be used as a proxy of sales, especially since not all sales numbers are publicly available (specifically on a monthly basis).

A comparison with the previous report for the January-September period allows us to calculate the number of new registrations in October, which amounted to roughly 102,000 (up about 38% year-over-year). That's the second-best result ever, and the second time above 100,000 in a single month.

The year-over-year growth rate in recent months is similar to the rebounding overall car market, which prevents EVs from seeing an increase in market share. It was about 7.4% in October.

The Automotive News article says that during the ten-month period, Tesla noted 537,622 new registrations (37% more than a year ago). The non-Tesla BEV registrations (calculated as the difference between the total and Tesla) amounted to 417,887 (up about 96% year-over-year) and over 43% share.

Tesla's share in the all-electric segment in the United States decreased to 56.3% from almost 65% a year ago.

BEV registrations in January-October 2023:

Tesla (56.3% BEVs): 537,622 (up 37%)
Non-Tesla (43.7% BEVs): 417,887 (up 96%)
Total: 955,509 (up 58%) and 7.4% market share (vs. 5.6% a year ago)

The numbers for October indicate that Tesla barely increased new registrations—reaching just over 48,000 (up 7% year-over-year), while the non-Tesla BEV registrations almost doubled to over 54,400 (up 87% year-over-year). Tesla was below a 50% share in the BEV segment (47% to be precise).

Brands

When it comes to BEV sales, Tesla remains significantly ahead of other brands (this will not change this year). Chevrolet and Ford were the best of the rest with very similar results, followed by Hyundai, Rivia,n and three German brands—BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen.

Chevrolet is racing with Ford, but the issue is that almost its entire sales volume was from the Chevrolet Bolt EV/Bolt EUV duo, which will soon be retired.

The numbers reveal very strong growth for Hyundai, Rivian, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen.

BEV registrations (select brands) in January-October 2023:

Tesla: 537,622 (up 37%) and 56.3% share
Chevrolet: 55,952 (up 109%) and 5.9% share
Ford: 55,155 (up 26%) and 5.8% share
Hyundai: 45,621 (up 97%)
Rivian: 35,751 (tripled)
BMW: 34,806 (up 308%)
Mercedes-Benz: 31,843
Volkswagen: 30,939 (up 128%)
Kia: 26,032 (nearly flat)
Audi: 20,091
Fisker: 820
VinFast: 324
Rolls-Royce: 11
BrightDrop: 5

Models

In terms of the best-selling models (most registered, to be precise) during the first ten months of the year, the Tesla Model Y, with over 320,000 units sold, is far ahead of others with a strong 80% increase year-over-year. The Tesla Model 3 is the second most popular model with over 181,000 units, but its growth rate is relatively low (13%). The Model S and Model X have been in the red for quite some time, which means that the brand is now relying mostly on the Model Y.

The Chevrolet Bolt EV/Bolt EUV duo is ending its journey in a great style, outpacing other models (55,531 when counted together), while the Ford Mustang Mach-E (32,065), Volkswagen ID.4 (30,939) and Hyundai Ioniq 5 (27,751) are racing with each other in the crossover/SUV category.

The Rivian R1S (19,387) is now outselling the Rivian R1T by 2:1, approaching the Tesla Model X (22,061) and the R1T is now 10% below last's year result. Right behind, there is the surprisingly strong BMW i4 (19,101), and finally, the Ford F-150 Lightning is growing to 17,850 units.

BEV registrations (select models) - January-October 2023: