California electric car sales boomed in 2023. See the trend in your ZIP code
One of every four light-duty vehicles sold in California last year was an electric car, a sharp rise from prior years, new state data show.
Californians bought about 447,000 battery, plug-in hybrid or fuel cell electric vehicles in 2023, up by roughly 100,000, or 30%, from 2022, according to preliminary figures from the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
California has approved an ambitious plan to require that electric vehicles make up all new vehicle sales by 2035. The plan is currently under review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The U.S. Congress implemented legislation last year offering tax credits of up to $7,500 for many new electric vehicles, stimulating electric car sales.
New electric vehicle sales by county
New electric vehicle sales were most common during 2022 and 2023 in wealthy urban or suburban counties.
San Mateo County residents purchased about 32,000 electric vehicles in 2022 and 2023, or 42 purchases per 1,000 residents, the highest rate in the state. Santa Clara, Marin, Orange, Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Placer and San Diego counties rounded out the ten counties with the highest rate of new electric vehicles.
New electric car sales were weakest in rural areas, where isolation and a lack of public stations may still be an issue. Only a few dozen electric cars were sold to residents in Modoc, Lassen, Del Norte and Trinity counties.
New electric vehicle sales by ZIP code
Electric cars were extremely popular in many very wealthy urban ZIP codes in 2022 and 2023, along with some industrial areas with a high number of vehicles purchased for commercial use.
The 50 ZIP codes with the highest rate of new electric vehicle purchases in 2022 and 2023 include parts of San Francisco, Santa Monica, Newport Coast, Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades, Atherton, Saratoga, Danville, Rancho Santa Fe and other affluent areas.
While the price of some new electric vehicles has fallen, the average cost of an electric car was about $52,000 late last year, out of the reach of most California households.
New electric vehicle sales in the Sacramento region
About 20,000 new electric vehicles were sold to residents of the four-county Sacramento region in 2023, up by 4,500, or 29%, from 2022. The number of new electric vehicle sales in the region more than doubled from 2020 and 2021 to 2022 and 2023.
The proportion of all new car sales in 2023 that were electric vehicles ranged from 21.5% in El Dorado County to 25% in Sacramento County.
In 2022 and 2023 combined, Sacramento-area residents bought about 36,000 new electric vehicles, or about 15 new purchases for every 1,000 residents. The rate of purchases was highest in 95742 (Rancho Cordova); 95816 (Midtown); 95762 (El Dorado Hills); 95757 (Elk Grove) and 95746 (Granite Bay).
Electric vehicles still a small portion of cars on road
Even with the sharp uptick in electric vehicle sales, zero-emission vehicles remain a tiny fraction of California’s car fleet, illustrating one challenge of fighting climate change.
At the start of 2023, about 1.1 million electric, light-duty vehicles were on the road, comprising less than 4% of all light-duty vehicles registered in the state, according to the latest DMV data. The 447,000 new electric cars bought by Californians during 2023 will likely push the proportion of electric vehicles to around 5% of registrations.
