Sales of electric vehicles by General Motors in the US more than quadrupled in the second quarter compared to the same time a year earlier, providing another proof of consumers’ growing interest in battery-powered cars and trucks.
In contrast to the second quarter of 2022, when just over 7,000 EVs were sold to retail customers, the Detroit automaker reported on Wednesday that it sold more than 15,000 EVs between April and June. The Chevrolet Bolt, which costs around $27,000 and is one of the most cheap EVs on the US market, saw a 113% spike in demand for both the smaller and larger models.
The excellent production and delivery statistics from EV producers Tesla and Rivian, which came after GM’s announcement, drove the shares of both firms considerably higher. In the US market, GM is second to Tesla in terms of EV sales. Ford, GM’s Detroit rival, is scheduled to release sales data on Thursday.
Volkswagen, which has the fourth-largest market share in the US for EVs, reported on Wednesday that sales of its ID.4 electric SUV had increased by more than fourfold year over year to 6,690 units in the second quarter.
Battery-powered cars and trucks are still only a small fraction of the overall US market, despite consumers buying more of them. EV sales in the US increased from 5.9% in the first quarter of 2022 to 8.6% in the first quarter, according to the trade association Alliance for Automotive Innovation.
In the second quarter, GM sold over 692,000 cars, trucks, and vans, 2% of which were electric. In comparison to the same period in 2022, when supply chain issues restricted the number of vehicles that carmakers could produce, the total volume of sales increased by 19%.