Sales of electric vehicles grew only 2.7% to just over 268,000 during the quarter, far below the 47% growth that fueled record sales and a 7.6% market share last year.
The slowdown, led by Tesla, confirms automakers’ fears that they moved too quickly to pursue EV buyers. The EV share of total U.S. sales fell to 7.1% in the first quarter.
– Reporting by Associated Press
Pete Buttigieg (Secretary of Transportation in the Biden cabinet) was asked today by some Fox News Channel (purveyor of right-wing propaganda) interviewer why President Biden was “pushing electrical vehicles down Americans’ throats”.
Buttigieg’s reply: 1. that is what car buyers want (more EVs are still bought every year), 2. that is where the auto industry is headed worldwide, and 3. the US should not fall behind China and import their EVs but rather manufacture them here in the USA.
Mainstream buyers are wary of the limited range of EVs (in some cases it’s a perception) and charging times, or a lack of charging stations.
The U.S. has a $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill President Joe Biden signed into law in November 2021.
More than two years later, though, only four states — Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and Hawaii — have opened stations funded by the program.