Electric Vehicle Sales in California Grow by Nearly 60 Percent This Year

Nissan and Volkswagen electric cars sit parked at a Charge Point EV charging station in Corte Madera, Calif., on July 28, 2023. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

California drivers are switching to electric vehicles at a faster rate than the rest of the nation, capturing nearly 22 percent of the state’s new vehicle market in the first nine months of 2023, according to a new report by the California New Car Dealers Association.

The state outpaced the rest of the nation in new electric vehicle (EV) registrations in the third quarter of 2023—which includes sales in July, August, and September—and were one full percentage point better than the national average, which only yielded a 13.3 percent improvement over 2022.