Last Updated on: 31st July 2025, 05:57 pm
With zero emission vehicles accounting for a healthy 21.6% of all new vehicle sales in California during Q2 this year, the California Energy Commission could not resist rubbing the good news in the face of US President Trump, Republicans in Congress, and anyone else who still clings to the notion that EV sales are destined to spiral down into the dustbin of history. The agency’s latest press release is a welcome dose of reality following reports that some of Tesla’s brand reputation troubles have rubbed off on the entire EV market.
Tesla, Brand Reputation, & EV Sales
The latest gloom and doom about EV sales comes from a study published in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications on July 28, under the self-explanatory title, “Liberals are less willing to buy Teslas than other electric vehicles, moderated by perceptions of Elon Musk.” The findings were based on five rigorous surveys conducted by the research team from November 2023 to May of this year.
Going by the study title alone, that’s not a particularly dire warning. After all, many other EV options are available to anyone who wants to invest in a zero emission ride but is turned off by the chainsaw wielding, Nazi-adjacent stylings of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. What is concerning — as highlighted here and here by CleanTechnica — is another finding in the same study.
“Liberals showed declining intentions to purchase Teslas compared with other EVs, and, to a lesser extent, declining intentions to purchase EVs in general,” the authors summarized (emphasis added).
Ouch! On July 30 The Guardian picked up the story and ran with it under the title, “Elon Musk is turning US liberals off not just Tesla but electric vehicles in general,” to emphasize the knock-on effect.
It’s no consolation that the researchers found the general effect on EV intentions to be less pronounced than the Tesla-specific effect. Even a minor difference could be enough to drag EV sales down.
Tesla, Women, & EV Sales
To complicate matters further, there is already another factor dragging EV sales down, and that is the EV sales gender gap. While all five surveys in the new study included 56% women and 44% men, that proportion is not reflective of EV ownership in the US.
The 56-44 proportion does track with the gender breakdown among new car buyers in the US, which skews heavily towards women. In honor of Women’s History Month last year, for example, the online car shopping site TruCar noted that women directly account for 62% of all new car purchases. Women are also credited with directly influencing 85% of new car sales overall.
In an interesting twist, TruCar additionally notes that 43% of women “still do not trust the automotive industry.” If 43% of women did not trust the auto industry in general as of 2024, a far greater proportion really, really did not trust the EV industry in general and Tesla in particular, at least not enough to pull their weight in EV sales.
The EV sales gender gap is a well known, well documented phenomenon. Last year a study by the research firm Escalent, for example, found that EV “ownership, shopping and awareness are largely male-dominated, with men making up 71% of owners and 74% of shoppers.”
That’s consistent with statistics on Tesla ownership compiled by the firm Hedges & Company. In a 2025 update, they note that Tesla ownership across all models skews 74% male.
California Celebrates Strong EV Sales, Again
I’ve reached out to the study authors to see if they can provide some additional context for the EV sales gender gap. In the meantime, let’s take a look at that new press release from the California Energy Commission.
“Despite the White House’s targeted attack on zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), over 100,000 ZEVs were newly registered in California in Q2 of 2025, showcasing Californians’ continued pursuit of zippy, zero-emission cars over polluting gas-powered ones,” CEC enthused. “ZEVs” refers to both battery-electric and fuel cell-electric vehicles, with FCEVs accounting for a vanishingly small proportion of sales.
CEC does note that the Q2 sales figure of 100,671 ZEVs is slightly down from 2024. However, in the context of the challenges faced by EV makers and the US auto industry in general, that’s not a bad showing. CEC lists “tariff whiplash, the dismantling of ZEV incentives, and illegal clawbacks of federal funding for electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure” among other setbacks.
“Californians are making it clear: ZEVs are here to stay,” CEC concludes, noting that total ZEV sales have now shot beyond the 2.3 million market to date.
“Despite Trump’s full-on attack, Californians are choosing the clean simplicity of ZEVs. We are saying no to inhaling fumes at gas stations and handling dirty gas nozzles,” emphasized CEC Commissioner Nancy Skinner in a press statement.
The CEC press release also echoes the new study’s finding of a potential knock-on effect by Tesla’s brand reputation crisis on overall EV sales. CEC notes that the somewhat modest year-on-year decline in EV sales in California tracks with a decline in Tesla sales. In contrast, the agency notes, “non-Tesla ZEV sales remain strong and stable.” It would be much more reassuring if non-Tesla sales increased enough to offset the decline in Tesla sales, but such is the world we live in.
Still, CEC reminds that 150 ZEV models are currently available for sale in California, up 35% over Q2 last year. “Make no mistake: California is not backing down from its ZEV goals. We will continue to heavily invest in accessible and reliable ZEV infrastructure, making the ZEV driving experience better each day,” Skinner emphasizes.
The EV Charging Angle
CEC also advises that its investment in EV charging infrastructure is not going to evaporate just because Trump and his Republican allies and Congress would like to wish it away. After all, US presidents come and go, and this one will be gone — peacefully one hopes, this time — in about 3.5 years, while a good EV charger should last about 10-15 years or more, depending on usage and maintenance factors.
“Over 178,000 public or shared private electric vehicle charging ports have been installed throughout California, plus over 700,000 at-home charging ports,” CEC notes, adding that 94% of California residents live within 10 minutes of an EV charger.
In related news from CEC, earlier this year the agency awarded a $3.8 million grant to the startup SWTCH Energy, aimed at providing on-site EV charging to 34 multifamily properties under the umbrella of the leading US-headquartered real estate firm Greystar.
Hold on to your hats. The news is significant because it can help uncork an untapped reservoir of EV sales among residents of multifamily buildings who otherwise lack access to the all-important convenience of home EV charging. If Greystar is satisfied with the results of the SWTCH project California, it could be the first among many. Greystar bills itself as the largest operator of apartments in the US, with a sprawling global footprint to boot.
Photo: California celebrates another strong quarter for non-Tesla EV sales and vows to keep fighting US President Trump’s “full-on attack” against zero emission mobility (courtesy of CEC).
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