(February 5, 2024) Following a long, seemingly inexorable climb, registrations of battery-electric vehicles in California fell in the fourth quarter of last year. EV sales have now fallen for two consecutive quarters in the state, even as California regulators set a 2035 deadline for all new auto registrations to consist of zero-emission vehicles. California has become the EV trendsetter in the U.S.

"When I think about California's overall adoption, this is just part of this transition. But if we see more quarters like this, it will be indicative of a slowdown," said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights at Cox Automotive.

California registered 89,993 electric light passenger vehicles in the fourth quarter, a 10 percent decline from the 101,151 in the third quarter, according to data compiled for the California New Car Dealers Association by Experian Automotive. The third quarter represented a small dip from the 102,991 EVs registered in the second quarter of 2023.

To be sure, the EV market is still a substantial portion of California auto sales. EVs accounted for 21.4 percent of the state's auto sales last year. Plug-in hybrids — cars that can travel 10 to 50 miles on electricity alone — made up 3.4 percent of sales. Combined, vehicles that plug into the wall accounted for a quarter, 24.8 percent, of the market last year. That's up from 20.1 percent in 2022 and about three times the national share.

Whether California can meet its regulatory target of exclusively zero-emission new-vehicle sales in 2035 is questionable, said Brian Maas, president of the California New Car Dealers Association and the 2023 chairman of Automotive Trade Association Executives told Automotive News.

"The sales trend is slowing down, and it needs to go up to get to 100 percent," Maas said. "There is a lot of ground to cover in just 11 years."

While a two-quarter downturn is not a "definitive trend," Maas said it is something to monitor.

Source: Automotive News