Hybrid Gross sales Rise Whereas Battery Electrical Gross sales Stay Decrease After Tax Credit score Expiration

Assist CleanTechnica’s work by way of a Substack subscription, on Patreon, or on Stripe. Assist us produce all the high-quality, unique content material we publish week after week regardless of the challenges of content-scraping AI, delinquent media, inflation, and different hurdles.

Within the second quarter of 2026 (2Q26), 24% of latest light-duty automobiles offered in america had been hybrid electrical, battery electrical, or plug-in hybrid electrical automobiles, up from 22% in 2Q25. Between 2Q25 and 2Q26, hybrid electrical automobiles continued to realize market share, reaching a report 16% of light-duty automobile gross sales. The market shares of battery electrical and plug-in hybrid electrical automobiles decreased, in response to estimates from Omdia. In 2Q26, battery electrical automobile gross sales had been 6% of latest light-duty automobiles offered, down from 7% in 2Q25; plug-in hybrid electrical automobile gross sales fell from 1.9% to 1.4% over the identical interval.

These completely different automobile varieties have an effect on the broader vitality sector in numerous methods. Battery electrical and plug-in hybrid electrical automobiles can eat electrical energy from the grid, which impacts electrical energy demand. By comparability, hybrid electrical automobiles eat liquid fuels and don’t hook up with the grid. Hybrid automobiles weren’t eligible for any of the federal tax credit that expired in September 2025.

Two tax credit for buying or leasing new electrical automobiles each expired on September 30, 2025: the New Clear Automobile Credit score and the Certified Business Clear Automobile Credit score. Battery electrical automobiles made up a report 12% of light-duty automobile gross sales in September 2025, instantly earlier than the credit expired. Nonetheless, 2025 marked the primary 12 months the place annual gross sales and market share of battery electrical automobiles declined, a pattern that has continued in 2026. Battery electrical automobile gross sales fell to six% of latest automobile gross sales within the first six months of 2026, down from 7% over the identical interval final 12 months.

Battery electrical automobiles have traditionally been extra in style within the U.S. luxurious automobile market, which accounted for 12% of the whole U.S. light-duty automobile gross sales in 2Q26. Nonetheless, battery electrical automobile gross sales are additionally lowering on this market section. In 2Q26, battery electrical automobiles accounted for 14% of luxurious light-duty automobile gross sales, down from 22% in 2Q25.

As a result of gross sales figures in any 12 months are comparatively small in contrast with the whole variety of automobiles on the street, electrical automobiles’ share of the light-duty automobile fleet is way lower than the current complete 7% gross sales share in 2Q26. In 2024, the latest 12 months for which we’ve fleet-wide knowledge accessible in our Month-to-month Vitality Assessment, electrical automobiles accounted for two% of all registered light-duty automobiles in america.

Article from In the present day in Vitality. Principal contributors: Matthew Skelton, Michael Dwyer