{"id":279448,"date":"2026-04-22T00:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/279448\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T00:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:54:08","slug":"electric-vehicle-sales-in-california-sputter-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/279448\/","title":{"rendered":"Electric vehicle sales in California sputter \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sales of zero-emission vehicles in California slumped 40.2% in the first quarter of this year, compared with the first three months of 2025, according to figures released Tuesday by the California New Car Dealers Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Registrations for ZEVs \u2014 which include battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids \u2014 accounted for 13.7% of the market share of all light-duty cars and trucks sold in the Golden State in the first quarter. That\u2019s the lowest percentage in more than four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decline in ZEV market share this quarter is significant, and it tracks closely with the phase-out of federal tax credits,\u201d said Brian Maas, president of the California New Car Dealers Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Legislation on Capitol Hill, dubbed the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d backed by Republicans and signed into law last summer by President Donald Trump, phased out federal tax credits of up to $7,500 on the purchase or lease of a new EV.<\/p>\n

The credits expired on Sept. 30, 2025, and consumers interested in EVs and plug-in hybrids rushed out to make purchases before the deadline. So the first-quarter numbers reflect the post-tax credit landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite President Trump\u2019s all-out attacks on electric vehicles, Californians continue to purchase EVs at a brisk pace,\u201d California Energy Commissioner Nancy Skinner<\/a> said in an email. \u201cWith EV sales flourishing in China and Europe, the Trump administration is recklessly rejecting market trends and putting the American auto industry at an incredible global disadvantage. In the face of these anti-innovation and anti-business actions, California continues to build for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the car dealers report, deliveries in California for Tesla dropped 24.3% in the first quarter compared with the year before. Rivian \u2014 another all-electric vehicle manufacturer \u2014 experienced a drop of 35.9%. The figures were compiled by Experian Automotive.<\/p>\n

Registrations in California for all vehicles, regardless whether powered by electricity or internal combustion engines, dropped 8.9% compared with the first quarter of last year.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0Ivan Drury, senior manager of auto insights at Edmunds.com<\/a>, said electric vehicle sales suffered a bigger hit due to the loss of the tax credit, combined with the fact that EVs typically cost more than gasoline-powered vehicles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a cost difference,\u201d Drury said, \u201cand as long as that exists, there will be a market share difference that shows you that.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Edmunds data, the average price for an EV in California in the first three months of this year came to $57,139. That\u2019s actually 5.5% lower compared with the same time last year, but it\u2019s still $12,000 higher than the $44,919 average price of an internal combustion engine vehicle.\n<\/p>\n

There was one outlier in the first-quarter numbers: The market share for hybrid vehicles without plug-ins saw a slight increase, going from 20.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 20.9% in the first three months of this year.<\/p>\n

Traditional hybrids without a plug-in rely<\/a> on the car\u2019s electric motor when operating at low speeds and then shift to the internal combustion engine when additional power is needed. Drivers get better gas mileage and don\u2019t have to worry about searching for a charging station.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just covers the bases for more consumers,\u201d Drury said. \u201cRange anxiety is just not a thing to consider.\u201d<\/p>\n

Registrations for hybrids without plug-ins exceeded 87,000 units in California in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

With the war in Iran causing gasoline prices to soar, it will be interesting to see if EV sales get a boost in the second quarter of this year. The average price per gallon in San Diego on Tuesday stood at $5.852, according to AAA<\/a> \u2014 $1.17 higher than the day before the war started.<\/p>\n

Analysis from Edmunds<\/a> showed consideration of EVs from shoppers across the U.S. rose slightly in March to 11.6%, compared with 9.6% in February.<\/p>\n

In an odd way, Drury said Californians who are on the fence about buying zero-emission vehicles may have more tolerance for high gas prices than drivers in other parts of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, possibly seeing $8 or $9 per gallon gas will blow your mind in some way, but I think that in California, it has to get higher for people to react even more so because (high gas prices have) just been a constant problem for years, for decades,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

California has more zero-emission vehicles on the road than any other state. According to the California Energy Commission<\/a>, registrations topped 2.55 million at the end of 2025. That number included 1.97 million battery-electric vehicles, almost 564,000 plug-in hybrids and 18,444 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom submitted a budget proposal that included setting aside $200 million to revive California\u2019s rebate program<\/a> for the sale of electric vehicles, to help counteract the removal of the federal EV tax credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncentives are a critical part\u201d of the Newsom administration\u2019s strategy to keep zero-emission vehicles \u201caffordable and accessible for all,\u201d the proposal said.<\/p>\n

The plan calls for the California Air Resources Board to partner with the auto industry. But details \u2014 including how much buyers would receive \u2014 still need to be worked out, and the rebate package would need to pass through the California Legislature before going into effect.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Newsom issued an executive order<\/a>\u00a0mandating the elimination of sales of all new gasoline-powered passenger vehicles throughout California by 2035.<\/p>\n

But last June, Trump signed three Congressional Review Act resolutions<\/a> that rescinded California\u2019s electric vehicle rules \u2014 as well as mandates related to diesel engines.\u00a0California and 10 other states have responded by\u00a0filing a lawsuit<\/a>, arguing that Trump\u2019s actions are unconstitutional and beyond the authority of Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sales of zero-emission vehicles in California slumped 40.2% in the first quarter of this year, compared with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[387,7,9,8,6774,181,23,100,1696,1967],"class_list":{"0":"post-279448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-headlines","11":"tag-california-news","12":"tag-energy","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-top-stories-sdut","17":"tag-transportation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}