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Tesla's delivery boom heralds broader surge in electric vehicles market

05 April 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Tesla's stock was up over 7% in premarket trading this morning after it reported record deliveries in the year's first quarter on Friday. But it's not the only manufacturer seeing sales increases this year.

Why it matters: Even as gasoline-powered sales return from the pandemic, cars with plugs are going faster, albeit from a much smaller base.

  • "It’s clear EV sales, both in the U.S. and globally, are increasing on a percentage basis faster than traditional internal combustion vehicles," iSeeCars.com analyst Karl Brauer tells Axios.
  • "Multiple automakers have introduced high-volume models in the past 12 months, with Tesla’s Model Y and Ford’s Mach-E being two prime examples," he said in an email.

Driving the news: Tesla beat analysts' expectations with 184,800 deliveries.

The full EV sector's Q1 tallies are still emerging, though Tesla is the leading player.

But individual company figures and a Morgan Stanley research note have some noteworthy numbers.

  • Over 181,000 fully electric vehicles were sold worldwide in February, which is up 138% compared to February 2020, per Morgan Stanley and data partner EV-Volumes. And January's numbers were even higher.
  • Several major automakers saw increases, including Ford, thanks to the initial deliveries of its new Mustang Mach-E.
  • Ford said in a separate release that it sold 6,614 in the U.S. despite what amounts to a cameo on dealer lots so far.
  • GM reported that U.S. Q1 sales of its Bolt EV are up over 50% compared to last year.

The intrigue: Higher figures are likely in part related to the pandemic, but that alone doesn't account for the acceleration.

Its full effects were not apparent in early 2020, and unlike internal combustion models, EV sales actually rose last year.

But, but, but: EVs still represent a very small (but rising!) fraction of total sales, and the U.S. lags behind China and Europe.

  • Per Morgan Stanley, fully electric cars were 2.3% of U.S. sales in February, compared to 6.3% in Europe and 7.9% in China.
  • U.S. manufacturers face battery supply chain challenges.
  • And the global chip shortage is affecting the overall industry, threatening production and sales.

What's next: A fuller picture of global Q1 EV sales will emerge in the coming days.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.