2025 was a rough year for electric vehicle sales in the U.S.
Despite a record-setting pace through the first three quarters of the year, thanks to the expiration of the $7,500 tax credit, EV sales dropped so far off a cliff in the fourth quarter that many of the top internal combustion engine vehicle makers were forced to admit that they had overestimated where EV demand would be in 2025
U.S. EV market share fell to 5.7% in the fourth quarter as sales volume fell to 234,171 fully electric vehicles sold, according to Car Edge. That was down from 8.7% a year earlier, and the all-time high of 10.5% in Q3 when the credits expired.
Tesla was the biggest beneficiary of this shift, as its 58.9% market share was the highest it has been since 2023. Tesla, along with Cadillac, Volvo, Jeep and Lucid, were the only handful of car makers to report increased market share in the fourth quarter, according to CE data. Still, Lucid is battling a lot of big players for that market share, and while its 1.8% market share was the best it ever recorded, it needs to find a way to significantly increase that number if it is to survive.