EV Growth Slowed in 2019

We like to cheerlead as much as the next person, but the slow 2019 growth in the EV fleet in CT is not something over which to turn cartwheels.

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has just released its topline Jan. 1 EV registration stats. There are 11,677 EVs registered in CT. (The definition of EV includes battery electric vehicles (BEV), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV), fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEV), and electric motorcycles (BEMC)).

The 11,677 represents growth of 26% over the course of 2019, well below the 78% growth rate in 2018. This mirrors national data, where sales of new EVs (as opposed to our number, which is registrations) suffered the first year-over-year decline since the introduction of the modern EV 10 years ago.

There were 4120 newly registered EVs. Keep in mind that these could be purchased or leased, new or used. However, there was a turnover of 1732 vehicles, leaving us with 2388 net new registrations.

Tesla Provided the Only Serious Growth

The only somewhat bright spot was Tesla, which accounted for 65% of the growth, most of it due to the Model 3.

Mixed Picture on Policy

From a policy perspective, there is a decidedly mixed picture in CT. While many officials talk supportively about EVs, there are still no direct sales permitted (which going forward will affect new EV brands, not just Tesla), and DEEP cut the CHEAPR incentives in October. The latter is likely a contributing factor as to why the growth rate in the second half of the year was 50% lower than the first half.

This blog receives detailed data from the DMV regarding each EV in the state, and a more thoroughgoing analysis will be published once we process those data.