But electric vehicle sales growth slowed during the first three months of the year, with mainstream buyers wary of limited range and a lack of charging stations.
Automakers, most of which reported U.S. sales numbers this week, sold nearly 3.8 million vehicles in the first quarter versus a year ago, for an annual rate of 15.4 million in sales.
With inventory on dealer lots growing toward pre-pandemic levels, auto companies were forced to reduce prices. J.D. Power said the average sales price in March was $44,186, down 3.6% from a year ago and the largest recorded decline for the month of March.
The company said automaker discounts in March were two-thirds higher than a year ago, around $2,800. That includes increased availability of lease deals. J.D. Power expected leases to account for almost a quarter of retail sales last month, up from 19.6% in March of last year.
Sales of electric vehicles grew only 2.7% to just over 268,000 during the quarter, far below the 47% growth that fueled record sales and a 7.6% market share last year. The slowdown, led by Tesla, confirms automakers’ fears that they moved too quickly to pursue EV buyers. The EV share of total U.S. sales fell to 7.1% in the first quarter.
Nearly all of the early adopters and people concerned about internal-combustion engines’ impact on the planet have bought electric vehicles, and now automakers are facing more skeptical mainstream buyers, Edmunds Director of Insights Ivan Drury said.
“That’s where all of those headwinds come in that we’ve seen in survey data,” Drury said. “Those real-world concerns about charging infrastructure, battery life, insurance costs.”
This story is from the April 06, 2024 edition of Techlife News.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 06, 2024 edition of Techlife News.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
AUSTRALIA PROPOSES LEGAL MINIMUM AGE FOR CHILDREN ACCESSING SOCIAL MEDIA
The Australian government this week promised to legislate this year to enforce a minimum age for children to access social media, but it has yet to announce how ages will be verified.
SWEDEN JOINS COUNTRIES SEEKING TO END SCREEN TIME FOR CHILDREN UNDER 2
Sweden says children under the age of 2 should not be exposed to any digital screens.
EU'S TOP COURT DISMISSES APPLE'S FINAL APPEAL AGAINST ORDER TO PAY IRELAND 13B EUROS IN BACK TAXES
Apple this week lost its last bid to avoid paying 13 billion euros ($14.34 billion) in back taxes to Ireland, in a finale to a dispute with the European Union that centered on sweetheart deals that Dublin was offering to attract multinational businesses with minimal taxes across the 27-nation bloc. The final decision by the EU’s top court was quickly hailed as a landmark victory over corporate greed.
GOOGLE AND APPLE LOSE THEIR COURT FIGHTS AGAINST THE EU AND OWE BILLIONS IN FINES AND TAXES
Google lost its last bid to overturn a European Union antitrust penalty, after the bloc's top court ruled against it Tuesday in a case that came with a whopping fine and helped jumpstart an era of intensifying scrutiny for Big Tech companies.
US POSTAL SERVICE SQUEEZE ON SHIPPING CONSOLIDATORS COULD RAISE CONSUMER COSTS
The U.S. Postal Service said this week that it is ending discounts that shipping consolidators such as UPS and DHL use to get packages to the nation’s doorsteps, in a move meant to help the Postal Service slow losses but that could see the higher costs passed on to consumers.
TELEGRAM CEO DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST FRENCH CHARGES IN FIRST PUBLIC COMMENTS
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov promised to step up efforts to fight criminality on the messaging app, his first public comments since French authorities handed him preliminary charges for allegedly allowing the platform's use for criminal activity.
JAMES EARL JONES' DARTH VADER VOICE LIVES ON THROUGH AI.VOICE ACTORS SEE PROMISE AND PERIL IN THAT
Over the course of an acting career that spanned more than six decades, James Earl Jones' voice became an indelible piece of his work as a performer.
GOOGLE FACES A NEW ANTITRUST TRIAL AFTER RULING DECLARING SEARCH ENGINE A MONOPOLY
One month after a judge declared Google's search engine an illegal monopoly, the tech giant faces another antitrust lawsuit that threatens to break up the company, this time over its advertising technology.
A CAPSULE HAS BEEN PROPELLED THROUGH A HYPERLOOP TEST TUBE IN A STEP FORWARD FOR THE TRANSIT SYSTEM
Hyperloop, a new form of mass transit involving capsules whizzing on magnetic fields through depressurized tubes, has achieved significant liftoff in the northern Netherlands, a company developing the technology said Monday.
BATTERY-POWERED DEVICES ARE OVERHEATING MORE OFTEN ON PLANES AND RAISING ALARM
Devices powered by lithium-ion batteries are overheating more often during airline flights and passengers often put them in checked bags that go into the cargo hold, where a fire might not be detected as quickly.
