At 25%, California Is Edging Closer to Its ZEV Sales Targets

• After contemplating the viability of California's ZEV goals earlier this year, the Golden State is already proving itself right, as sales data shows one in four new cars sold is electrified.

• Some counties like those near San Francisco are achieving an even higher rate of 40% of new car sales being battery-electric, plug-in-hybrid, or fuel-cell electric.

• In order to keep this up, academics and scientists say that lowering vehicle and electricity costs as well as continuing to subsidize EV ownership for specific populations will be essential.

There is no denying that California is ahead of the curve on electric-vehicle adoption. Earlier this year, we contemplated California's zero-emission vehicle progress and concluded that a full-stop sale of new internal-combustion cars by 2035 was well within reach.

And the state of California is proving its point this week, as sales data from the first half of 2023 shows a 24.3% take-rate for ZEVs, which California currently defines as battery electric, certain fuel-cell electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrids with at least 50 miles of all-electric range. That's a rate of one in every four new cars sold being ZEVs (even though the plug-in hybrids also have internal-combustion engines), with just second-quarter sales showing an even higher 25.4% ZEV sales share.

And some areas are doing even better, with Alameda, San Francisco, and Santa Clara counties posting a 40% ZEV sales share in the second quarter of the year. Overall, ZEV sales numbers are up to 223,298 units just this year, though California's overall light-duty vehicle count in 2022 was over 28 million units.

The first half of the year also marks a new crossroads for California, as Tesla has become the top-selling brand in California, edging out Toyota with a 14.6% market share. Similarly, the Tesla Model Y was the best-selling vehicle at large in California, beating out the previously best-selling Toyota Camry and Toyota RAV4. Additionally, the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV made up 8% of battery-electric vehicle sales, in a win for small, affordable EVs.

Other notable figures from the second quarter include Los Angeles County's new ZEV registration rate, coming in at nearly 63,000 new ZEVs registered between April, May, and June. Orange County boasted over 28,000 new ZEVs registered as well, cementing Southern California as a close second in ZEV adoption to its Bay Area neighbors.