The U.S. electric vehicle (EV) market saw sales cool significantly at the end of 2025, following a record-breaking third quarter and the expiration of key federal incentives.
According to new data from Cox Automotive, the U.S. EV market sold an estimated 234,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter, a sharp pullback after a record-breaking Q3. With federal EV incentives expiring at the start of October, Q4 deliveries fell 46% quarter-over-quarter and 36% year-over-year.
Even so, 2025 ended with 1.276 million EVs sold in the U.S., just slightly below 2024’s 1.30 million total, making it the second-best year for EVs on record.
Within that environment, Tesla still towered over the competition. The automaker delivered an estimated 138,000 vehicles in Q4 2025, giving it a massive 58.9% share of all EV sales for the quarter. For the full year, Tesla sold 589,160 vehicles in the U.S., down 7% from 2024 but still representing nearly half of all EVs sold nationwide.
The Model Y once again was the center of Tesla’s dominance. In Q4 alone, Tesla delivered 92,460 Model Ys in the U.S., an 8.1% increase compared to the same period a year earlier. That made it not only Tesla’s top seller, but the best-selling EV in America by a wide margin.
Over the full year, Model Y sales reached 357,528 units, far ahead of any other EV on the market.
The Model 3 posted 37,260 deliveries in Q4 and 192,440 units for the year. That was enough to make it the second-best-selling EV in the country in 2025, trailing only its bigger sibling. Together, the Model Y and Model 3 accounted for well over half of Tesla’s U.S. volume and dwarfed every competitor’s lineup.
Other Tesla models had a tougher end to the year. The Cybertruck delivered 4,140 units in Q4 and finished 2025 with just 20,237 sales. That was below the F-150 Lightning, which sold 27,307 units for the year, a level so low that Ford cancelled the all-electric pickup, deciding instead to overhaul it and relaunch it with a gas range extender.
Meanwhile the Model S and Model X continued to see declining volumes with just 1,380 and 2,760 units sold in Q4, a 15 percent and 36 percent drop for each vehicle respectively.
Despite the Q4 slowdown, Tesla’s grip on the U.S. EV market remains unmatched. As new incentives, new competitors, and new models arrive in 2026, the broader EV sector may be evolving—but Tesla’s best-selling duo, the Model Y and Model 3, continue to set the pace in America’s EV market.
