Over 500,000 EVs Have Now Been Sold in California

The new car market in California has reached a major milestone with the sale of its 500,000th electric vehicle. California has the highest adoption rate of electric cars, with a record number of new EVs still on the way.

Veloz, a unique coalition of public and private electric car industry stakeholders, has been keeping track of EV sales and reports that 512,717 electric cars have been sold in California as of Dec. 5, 2018. The electric vehicles sales in the state are up 30 percent over last year and now account for 7.1 percent of all vehicle sales in California in the first three-quarters of the year. 

“Reaching 500,000 electric vehicles in California is yet another indicator that the future of transportation is electric. And that future is approaching faster than ever,” said Veloz board chair David Hochschild. “We have seen monthly sales of electric vehicles triple this year and California is well on our way to 5 million by 2030.”

While this is a big milestone for California, the group is concerned with trends around the rest of the national market and thinks that California isn’t yet where it needs to be—even with the hefty sales, 70 percent of counties in the state received failing grades for tailpipe emissions pollution. 

“This unprecedented, exponential growth of the electric car market is only the beginning,” said Josh Boone, executive director of Veloz. “But we need to accelerate the uptake of these cars to make a real difference. Air pollution negatively impacts the health of all. That is why we need ‘Electric For All.’”

In efforts to more rapidly advance the electric car landscape, Veloz has launched its Electric for All campaign to inform Californians about EVs. Essentially, they hope that, through education, buyers will see the benefits of electrification and instead opt out of internal combustion and in favor of plug-in vehicles.