In North America, that's including Canada? 1.3 million EVs so far this year. Minus 21% YTD-26 vs YTD-25.
Perhaps American drivers are putting off their purchase of an electric car until the launch of the flying roadster?
- The infrastructure isn't there yet. I can get gas anywhere, but charging stations may be few and far between. The median salary in my area is mid $100k, and 50k pop. and I see Teslas and EV'S everywhere. But despite that the town has only 1 public charging station.
- For apartment dwellers, who don't have the option of charging at home or work, why bother putting up with the anxiety of trying to find a charger?
- The early adopters feel like they got burned. Lessees like low maintenance, and the batteries tend to deterioriate. Buyers get into the same situation, but have no equity, and it's hard to justify dropping $$$ for a new battery when they can put that into a new car.
- There's a lot of nothing in between major towns and cities. If it's super cold out, will you make it the 120mi/193km to your destination?
If it made practical and financial sense for me l would be all in. A lot of people I know feel this way. Even my older peers who were the biggest skeptics when EV's hit the market.
For instance, the most common trip I make is about 200mi one direction along a major US highway. Looking right now, there is one "slow charger" station near the first 1/3 leg of the trip, then nothing. How would I get back?
Yet... anecdotal, so that's just this stranger's take on it.
Tesla benefited <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-19/tesla-vol...> from Canada cutting import duty on Chinese EVs, by grabbing most of the slots.