Utah slips a bit in sales but still in top 20 in country for EV market share

Brice Wallace 

Utah is lagging the national average for electric vehicle sales but fares better when it comes to the ratio of EVs for public ports.

A state-by-state analysis by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation for the first quarter of 2024 indicates that EVs represented 8.4 percent of new light-duty vehicle sales in Utah. That’s down from 10 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 and 9 percent in the 2023 first quarter. It also is short of the national average of 9.3 percent of new light-duty vehicle sales in the 2024 first quarter.

Despite the slippage, Utah is No. 16 among states for EV market share.

The “Get Connected Electric Vehicle Report” indicates that 2,946 EVs were sold in Utah in the first quarter. Nationally, about 344,000 EVs were sold. The figure includes battery, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell electric vehicles. The national percentage for the first quarter of 9.3 percent was down from 10.2 percent in the 2023 fourth quarter but up from 8.6 percent in the year-earlier quarter.

EVs increased their market share in 37 states in the first quarter, compared to a year earlier. The top five states were California, 24.8 percent; Washington, 20.2 percent; the District of Columbia, 19.5 percent; Colorado, 18.3 percent; and Hawaii, 16 percent.

The 13 percent year-over-year increase in EV sales is in contrast to total light-duty sales (all powertrains) increasing 4.2 percent, while the internal combustion engine vehicle market share shrunk 4.6 percent.

The report noted that 113 EV cars, utility vehicles, pickup trucks and van models are now available for sale in the U.S.

Utah had 51,154 EVs on the road in the first quarter and 2,191 publicly available charging outlets, for a ratio of 23 EVs for every public port. Nationally, 4.7 million EVs had 167,213 publicly available charging outlets available, a ratio of 28 EVs for every public port.

Utah’s ratio ranks it No. 30 among states. The Utah number includes 377 “DC Fast” chargers, which can charge battery electric vehicles in 20 minutes to an hour. Nationally, the total includes 40,583 DC Fast chargers.

But the rate of new public charger installations is not keeping pace with EV demand. The report says that more than 1 million more public chargers (940,370 Level 2 and 141,417 DC Fast) are needed to meet the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s necessary infrastructure estimate for 2030. Put another way, 438 chargers will need to be installed every day — or nearly 3 chargers every 10 minutes — through the end of 2030 to meet that estimate.

In the first quarter, the number of publicly available EV chargers increased 5 percent from the previous quarter, but total EVs on the road increased 8 percent. Nationally, 344,533 EVs were registered in the first quarter, but only 7,247 new public chargers were added, leaving a ratio of 48 new EVs for every new public port.

As for tax credits, of the 113 EV models available, 22 models, or 19 percent, are eligible for all or part of the credit available via the Inflation Reduction Act. That legislation split the $7,500 federal EV tax credit in two, basing eligibility on EVs meeting various critical mineral, battery component, assembly and income requirements. Of the 22 models, 13 are eligible for the full credit and nine are eligible for $3,750.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation represents all elements of the auto industry, a sector supporting 10 million American jobs and 5 percent of the economy.