California broke records last year as the Golden State surpassed 1 million EVs sold. Almost a quarter of the sales went down in 2021 alone, according to the California Energy Emission. And 12.4% of all auto sales that year were electric vehicles, like the Tesla, Chevy Bolt, or the Nissan Leaf.
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11 years in the making
The milestone is extra precious as CA didn’t meet these goals overnight. California took over a decade to adapt to the beginning of an EV overtake. Naturally, concerns about cost, range along with charging stations infrastructure kept sales moving slowly. However, by the last day of the year in 2021, California drivers registered 663,014 purely electric cars and 379,125 plug-in hybrids. Plug-ins are EVs that operate with gasoline when they’re not using electricity. From that 1 million, 183,933 battery-electric cars and 63,141 plug-in hybrids were bought or leased in 2021.
California EV drivers receive a decal that allows them to drive solo in carpool lanes as a perk of being an EV owner
5 million EVs sold by 2030
California’s made huge strides, but data shows the Golden State has a ways to go. Around the world, electric vehicle sales jumped from 4.11% in 2020 to 8.57% in 2021. But we’re all behind Europe which exceeded 20% in EV sales. California is headed in the right direction. Governor Newsom set a goal of 5 million EVs sold by 2030. This means Cali would need to buy 4 million EVs over the next 9 years to meet the expectation.
San Jose has the most public charging stations per capita (2.4 per 1,000 residents) and close to 74,000 EVs currently on the road. Los Angeles has 230,940 registered EVs and San Francisco has 122,404
The Advanced Clean Cars Program is aiming for 100% zero-emissions vehicle sales by 2035. The California program unites the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the emission of smog-producing pollutants into one single group of rules for cars and light trucks from 2015 through 2025.
The Golden State was a trendsetter in eco-friendly vehicle use
California was game for saving our environment by using electricity as a source of power for cars before the rest of the country came around. The Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt were among the first EVs in 2010 to be delivered to California. By the end of September, California had more than eight times as many EVs as the next closest state, Florida, according to data from an auto industry trade group.
GM plans to stop selling gas and diesel trucks by 2035
Trucks, crossovers, and SUVs are the new wave
Nonprofit organization Veloz estimates the next two years will bring in 85 new EV models. Of the 85, car buyers will get to see 19 new truck and SUV models. Trucks and SUVs are all the rage these days! In 2021 truck sales were at 11.6 million, up 5% of the year over year value from 2020.
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The consumer has spoken, and automakers are listening. Popular car brands like Ford and GM are already working on truck and SUV model EVs such as the Chevy Silverado and the GMC Hummer EV. Cadillac plans to release the Lyriq Crossover by the end of 2022. Honda’s first EV SUV, the Prologue, will arrive in 2024. Built by GM, but produced in Honda factories using hydrogen fuel cells instead of batteries for energy. Bollinger is launching two electric vehicles including the B1 SUV and B2 pickup truck. The Canoo pickup truck is expected in 2024.
Once EV sales represent 10% of new car sales, like in Europe and China, it’s said to be the take-off point for the industry
Tesla is still king
Tesla continues its reign on the EV sales leaderboard. The automaker giant produced more than 308,000 vehicles in the last 3 months of 2021, and almost 1 million vehicles globally in 2021 as a whole. Tesla started producing its popular Model S electric sedan in the San Francisco Bay area in 2012. The electric car brand took over California EV sales, making almost 75% of all battery-electric cars sold across Cali last year.
While the pandemic and the chip shortage created a big mess for most automakers, Tesla increased sales by changing over to microcontrollers and using new microprogramming to work with new chips from different suppliers.Tesla uses multiple chips for different control systems in the vehicle. The saving grace was a chip Tesla designed itself for its self-driving software. Once designed, this chip was produced by Samsung.
Tech mogul Elon Musk said he won’t be coming out with any new Tesla models in 2022. He believes he can make Tesla Inc. one of the largest carmakers in the world, while only selling a few models of the popular EV brand. Musk is fiercely defiant to industry norms even at a time when demand for EVs is rising.
Electric vehicles are the wave of the future. Automakers are heeding to what consumers are asking for. People want to spend their money on vehicles that are good for the environment and on-brand with today’s trends. Once the rest of the country follows in tow with California’s big moves in the EV industry, our planet will be better off.
