- Despite US President Trump’s pledge to scrap the $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs, the policy’s removal is yet to materialize, and US consumers are continuing to purchase electric vehicles in increasingly large numbers.
- With manufacturers now publishing their first quarter performance results, we now have new insights into the state of the US EV market in 2025.
- Manufacturers such as General Motors, BMW, and Ford all saw year-on-year EV sales increases within the US market.
US consumer appetite for EVs remains strong
Perhaps the most impressive result came from General Motors, which in Q1 of 2025, sold 31,887 EVs in the US. This marks a 94% year-on-year rise in the number of EVs sold compared to Q1 of 2024, across its brands such as Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, and Buick. Broken down between these brands, Chevrolet was the fastest growing EV brand within the group – with EV sales rising 119% year-on-year, led primarily by the Equinox EV and Blazer EV models.
Ford also registered impressive EV growth in the US, with fully-electric car sales rising 12% year-on-year. Fully-electric car sales from BMW were yet another strong seller in the US this quarter, with 13,538 BEVs sold in Q1 – a 26.4% rise over the number sold in Q1 of 2024.
Despite previous comments from Trump, including a claim that ‘nobody wants to buy’ EVs, this year-on-year growth paints a different story, indicating an increasingly healthy appetite for EVs amongst US drivers.
The continuation of these strong sales figures across the industry is not guaranteed, however. On the 2nd of April, President Trump confirmed the implementation of a 25% tariff against foreign-made automobiles and auto parts. The tariff against automobiles has already been put into place, while auto parts have been given a grace period until the 3rd of May. While OEMs like General Motors and Ford do produce some EVs within the US, some popular models like the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Chevrolet Blazer EV are made in Mexico – which will become liable to this new 25% tariff. For non-us EV brands, this tariff becomes even more of a concern.
This could lead to price rises against such models, which could negatively impact consumer demand. OEMs may choose to relocate more EV manufacturing into the US, in response to these new tariffs, but this will take time. Perhaps not coincidentally, Polestar removed any mention of its non-US made Polestar 2 from its US landing page, just hours after Trump confirmed the new tariffs (The Polestar 3, however, is already being built in South Carolina for the North American market).
