EV adoption in America: Who's winning, who's losing?

Toyota emerges as another winner in EV sales: Its bZ crossover recorded a 78 percent increase year on year, with 10,029 sold. We can add 13 electric C-HRs to that tally as well, and Lexus saw even more impressive percentages as RZ sales grew by 207 percent year on year to 4,456 units. Impressive work for an automaker that spent plenty of time and money pushing back against EV policies. Toyota’s data also shows that the trend identified by Cox for the past quarter may look quite different in Q2. Although overall sales were down 8.5 percent in March, sales of EVs and hybrids increased by 2.5 percent.

General Motors still sells more EVs in the US than anyone other than Tesla, ending Q1 with 24,698 sales across Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC. But only two models saw sales growth: the diminutive Cadillac Optiq, which sold 2,847 (a 66 percent increase), and the Vistiq, which slots between the Lyriq and Escalade and found 1,902 buyers (compared to a single buyer in Q1 2025). Although GM has idled the factory that makes its full-size EV pickups and SUVs, it was actually the midsize Blazer EV that saw the worst time this past quarter: Its sales declined by 83 percent to just 1,077.

Want a bargain? Buy nearly new

The higher average purchase price of a new EV probably isn’t helping much here. The good news is that used EVs are still a real bargain as mainstream car buyers give them the cold shoulder.

The same Cox report from last week that estimated a 28 percent drop in new EV sales also estimated that 93,500 used EVs were sold in Q1 2026, an increase of 12 percent compared to 2025. Because of consumer fears about battery longevity and charging times, used EVs are typically a year newer and have 30,000 fewer miles than an equivalent gasoline-powered model, and over the last few weeks, Ars has presented some options if you’re looking to spend $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, or $20,000 on a used EV.

The really good news is that the supply of used EVs will only improve. A consequence of the Biden administration’s clean energy incentives was an increase in the percentage of EVs that were leased rather than bought outright, thanks to a loophole that meant any leased EV was still eligible for the IRS clean vehicle tax credit, even if they weren’t assembled in North America. Over the next two years, more and more of these EVs will end their leases and find themselves on dealer forecourts looking for their next home.