Electric vehicle sales accounted for 11 percent of U.S. light-duty vehicle sales in fourth quarter 2021
The modern mix of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicles collectively reached 11 percent of total light-duty vehicle sales in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2021, as a slew of new vehicle offerings hit the market and sales of existing models surged as well.
According to a report from Wards Intelligence, these results were despite drops in interest in cars. Rather, recent years have been particularly kind to crossovers instead, and purchases of plug-in hybrid and hybrid vans and pickups have also been on the rise. Crossovers, in this context, refer to vehicles merging facets of passenger cars and sport utility vehicles.
Manufacturers released 49 new models of non-hybrid internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles last year, on top of 126 new vehicles for hybrid and electric vehicle models. The use of these vehicles coincided with drops in sales of vehicles fueled by gas or diesel.
Until recently, many of these vehicle models didn’t have much in the way of hybrid or electric vehicle options – often, they were restricted to cars alone. Crossovers now account for most sales in the market.
