Shoppers are looking to cash in on automaker discounts and electric vehicle tax credits ahead of Donald Trump taking office on January 20. The incoming President is expected to either cut the incentives or completely repeal them. The result of that is the end of 2024 seeing a marked uptick in new EV registrations in the U.S.
S&P Global Mobility says new EV registrations rose 21 percent to 109,120 vehicles in November of 2024 compared with the same month a year earlier. During the month, battery-electric vehicles made up 8.3 percent of light-vehicle sales – up from 7.4 percent in 2023, according to Automotive News. These numbers don’t even account for the number of hybrid vehicles that were registered. These numbers significantly outpaced the overall light vehicle market, which only had an 8.3 percent year-over-year rise in November to 1.31 million vehicles.
With control of every branch of government, it’s expected that Trump will either repeal or heavily modify the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, taking the credits with it. Hell, even Tesla CEO and “First Buddy,” Elon Musk says he opposes the subsidies.
To go along with those EV tax credits, automakers also offered up strong end-of-year incentives like subsidized financing rates and lease deals, Auto News reports. It was enough to apparently bring monthly EV payments down to the same level as many comparable gas and hybrid vehicles.
Leading the way for EV registrations was – no surprise – Tesla with 46,225 registrations. Chevy was in second with 9,769 registrations, and rounding out the top five were Ford (8,886), Honda (6,527) and Hyundai (5,876). At the very bottom, we’ve got Fisker (101), Rolls-Royce (35), Dodge (eight), Jeep (eight) and Maserati (one).
Here’s more on how automakers were able to move so many EVs, from Automotive News:
Factory incentives on the Honda Prologue crossover, which launched in the spring, reached $10,860 per vehicle in November, Motor Intelligence said. For the larger Acura ZDX crossover, the incentive was nearly $17,000. Tesla’s average incentive across its lineup was $5,601 in November, Motor Intelligence said.
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Chevrolet saw its EV registrations more than double compared with a year earlier, Ford increased 14 percent, Hyundai rose 60 percent and Kia jumped 88 percent. Among the top 10 EV brands, only two declined. Rivian was down 57 percent amid production issues and BMW fell 7 percent.
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The Cybertruck was the best-selling EV pickup in November with 3,653 registrations, S&P Global Mobility said. But there were signs of cooling interest. The pickup had 4,041 registrations in October and 4,278 in September.
We’re about to enter some very uncertain times for the automotive industry. Odds are, the makeup of the vehicles being sold will look a whole lot different in the coming years as Republicans try to do away with much of the EV industry. If regulations are rolling back, automakers aren’t going to have nearly as much of an incentive to build EVs as they currently do. Get ready for things to get really messy, folks.
