Lately, General Motors is doing very well in the electric vehicle market. Despite a rough ride last year, with many production and factory delays, GM has learned a lot from its mistakes and is now the second-largest EV maker in the United States.
Tesla is the one to beat, so does GM have what it takes to capitalize on the growing frustration with Elon Musk’s antics and the seemingly slowing demand for the Cybertruck? Looking at the sales numbers, it’s clear that General Motors is on the right track. Since 2016, the American auto giant has sold over 300,000 all-electric vehicles in the U.S., while the number for North America is even bigger: 370,000 EVs.
The Chevrolet Bolt went into production in 2016, so it’s only fitting that the company’s chart only goes back so far, but let’s not forget that the timeframe is still two years short of a full decade, which is not bad at all.
By comparison, Tesla needed roughly five years to pass the 300,000 vehicle mark in the U.S. with just the original Model S and the first-generation Roadster. By 2018, Tesla was already sailing past a quarter of a million EVs delivered in America, but the car landscape couldn’t have been more different back then–the company had the entire long-range EV market for itself. Yes, the Nissan Leaf and a handful of other models like the Ford Focus Electric and Coda sedan were also on sale, but they offered less than 150 miles of range, whereas the Model S could drive over 200 miles on a full charge.
Nowadays, GM itself has no fewer than eight EVs on sale, with more to come in the following months. And just about every other carmaker out there is trying its hand at making a compelling battery-powered car, from Subaru to BMW and Mercedes-Benz, so it would be an understatement to say that it’s a very crowded market.
Despite this, GM managed to capture Americans’ attention with a large selection of models, most of which are eligible for the $7,500 federal tax credit, good lease deals and headline-making range figures. The updated 2025 Chevrolet Silverado EV, for instance, can go up to 492 miles on a full charge, a number that no other electric pickup can match.
Meanwhile, the entry-level Chevrolet Equinox EV is America’s most affordable EV with over 315 miles of range. The fact that all retail-oriented GM EVs can also use the Tesla Supercharger network of DC fast chargers in the U.S. and Canada likely helped with the sales uptick, too.
