Despite everything, US EV sales are up 28% this year
Category: News & Politics
Via: bob-nelson • 6 days ago • 2 commentsBy: Jonathan M. Gitlin - Ars Technica
In the US, customers are buying while there are still incentives, no extra tariffs
There's a lot of EV news today.
I'll put some other articles in the Comments section.
There are links in the seed.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Getting ahead of those unfriendly winds may actually be driving the sales bump in the US, where EV sales only grew by less than 8 percent last year, for contrast. "American drivers bought 30 percent more electric vehicles than they had by this time last year, making use of the final months of IRA tax breaks before the incentives are expected to be pulled later this year," said Charles Lester, Rho Motion data manager.
With the expected loss of government incentives and the prospect of new tariffs that will add tens of thousands of dollars to new car prices, now is probably a good time to buy an EV if you think you're going to want or need one.
Perhaps surprisingly, growth in the much more EV-tolerant European Union was barely higher, at 29 percent for the year to date, helped by a new tax on plug-in hybrid weight in France, Rho Motion says. Both Germany and the UK EV markets have grown by 40 percent this year.
China is speeding past the rest of the world in terms of electrifying its transportation, and unsurprisingly it comes out on top in Rho Motion's data, with 35 percent growth for the year to date compared to 2024. Looking month by month shows an even more impressive 73 percent increase year over year, thanks to where the lunar new year fell in 2024 and 2025.
Jonathan M. Gitlin is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC. 172 Comments
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Donald Trump turning the White House into a Tesla showroom aside, things are looking pretty grim for the electric car company right now.
The stock has dropped tremendously .
There have been reports of Tesla chargers being burned, people vandalizing cars, people flipping Tesla drivers off, breaking glass at Tesla showrooms.
There have also been very spirited peaceful demonstrations all across the US in front of Tesla dealerships, with protesters voicing their dislike of Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and his policies, and the government cuts being enacted by Musk’s DOGE group.
And people are selling their Teslas back, often for significant losses .
The vibes are bad in Europe, too — largely thanks to Musk boosting Germany’s far-right party and making what looked like a Nazi salute . There are widespread protests and a movement for people to buy other types of electric cars.
Public opinion is starting to crystalize against Tesla because Musk is the face of the company, and many people aren’t happy with what he’s doing politically. The problem for Tesla (and Musk) is when public opinion has catalyzed against something, it can be very hard to reverse course.
And so then the question becomes: Does Elon Musk care about that?
Faiz Siddiqui, a Washington Post reporter who has written a book on Musk , told me that Tesla's stock is Musk’s engine. When Musk acquires Twitter or wants to gobble up an AI company, he’s not paying cash. He’s using Tesla stock, based on the understanding that that’s an incredibly profitable, growing asset.
And Musk is going to continue to need a lot of money. Faiz mentioned that the next big thing for Musk seems to be pivoting Tesla to be a robotics and AI company. Those are expensive goals, and if Tesla stock drops too much, that could limit future ambitions. Maybe Musk cares about that.
However, maybe he sees that as a price worth paying for being the second most powerful man in the world — and some might argue, given his influence on Trump, that he is the most powerful man in the world.
Sure, things are rocky for Tesla at the moment, but Musk now has an unprecedented level of access to the American government and power. And he has a giant portfolio — SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, Starlink, xAI — that is very affected by government contracts and regulations.
So maybe it doesn’t matter if Tesla incurs great losses if Musk is able to use his position to convince the Federal Aviation Administration to move a $2.4 billion government contract from Verizon to Starlink, which is something the FAA is reportedly at least considering . Perhaps DOGE (the “Department of Government Efficiency”) can make his life easier on the regulation front or allow him to learn valuable information about competitors .
It’s hard to say what Musk’s end game is, and how secure his position is; there have been some reports of him clashing with other administration officials .
But one thing the recent Tesla drama has shown is that things seem inevitable until they don't. Tesla seemed to be on this inevitable glide path to remain one of the most profitable car makers in the world. Now, maybe not. And the same is true with Elon Musk and his political power: Things can rise and fall faster than you might think.
The president wants to protect his campaign underwriter's car business
Donald Trump wants Americans to be nice to Tesla and Elon Musk—or feel the wrath of the federal government. Yes, in an effort to quell populist rage at his financial backer, Trump held a press conference Tuesday at which he announced he would be designating violence against Tesla dealerships as “domestic terrorism.” Such a designation could mean incredibly long prison sentences (on par with violent insurrectionists) for people who put a brick through a car dealership’s window.
“They’re harming a great American company,” Trump said, at the press conference. The president also made the bizarre claim that people who vandalize Tesla dealerships are the “same guys that screw around with our schools and universities, the same garbage, and we’re going to catch them.”
Musk, also in attendance, said: “It’s really terrible that there’s so much violence being created against people like Tesla, Tesla supporters, Tesla owners, Tesla stores. These are innocent people.”
Musk’s activities as head of the Department of Government Efficiency have encouraged thousands of people to participate in the “Tesla Takedown” movement , which has targeted the billionaire’s company for boycotts and protest, and drawn angry crowds to dealerships across the country.
Tesla vehicles and dealerships have also been targeted by random acts of violence. Dealerships have been set on fire, shot at, and had bricks thrown through their windows. As far as can be discerned, these acts of violence are totally unrelated to the “Tesla Takedown” movement and are just the result of angry Americans blowing off steam at the billionaire who sells the cars.
During the same press conference, Trump announced that he would be buying a Tesla, and he and Elon stood in front of one of the vehicles. Later, Trump got into the car and mumbled weird stuff like, “Wow, everything’s computer!” The publicity stunt came off as a flagrant and obvious example of corruption, and critics labeled it a “Tesla informercial.”
It isn’t difficult to see why Americans are taking out their anger at Elon on his car company. Through DOGE, Musk has attacked and threatened to destroy a majority of the public services that are dispensed by the federal government, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ services.