IT IS YET to be seen how a backlash against Elon Musk’s government budget-cutting efforts will affect Tesla sales. But based on recent news reports, the prospects don’t look good.
A dip could hurt efforts to convert to clean cars in San Joaquin County and elsewhere in California.
The good news? So far, the county appears to have escaped the wave of vandalism to Tesla vehicles and dealerships that has spread around the nation, based on a cursory check with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.
But sales of new zero-emission vehicles the state needs to meet its climate goals is another worry.
California accounts for more electric vehicle registrations than any other state, with a 2-to-1 margin over Florida and Texas, which have the next-highest counts. With the current backlash against Teslas, the fear isn’t that Californians interested in a new electric car would buy a rival model, but that they would instead stick to a gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicle.
Teslas accounted for 64.7% of new electric car sales in San Joaquin County last year, California Energy Commission figures show. Among those sold in 2024 in the county were 2,323 Model Y crossovers, 675 Model 3 sedans and 128 Cybertrucks. It helps that Tesla has high-speed recharging stations in Stockton, including one on east Morada Lane and another on Grand Canal Boulevard.
Of the new cars sold last year in San Joaquin County, 22.4% were zero-emission vehicles, not far from the statewide average of 25.3%. By contrast, rural Modoc County had 4.9% and San Francisco-adjacent Marin County had 40.1%.
While the number of electric vehicles being sold in the state has increased, California still has a ways to go to reach the beginning of its ambitious “roadmap” laid out in 2022. The plan includes having 35% of all new vehicles sold in the state be zero-emission beginning with 2026 model year cars. That gradually increases to 100% of sales by 2035.
Meanwhile, Tesla sales are slumping in Europe, the Guardian reported, with the company’s market share for February the lowest for that month it has reported in the last five years.
In the U.S., Tesla stock has fallen 43% from its 52-week high, though it rallied Monday on reports that President Donald Trump’s tariffs would not hit U.S. trading partners as hard as previously thought.
At least there is no shortage of rival electric cars to Tesla. For those who want a battery electric vehicle but not a Tesla, just about every major car company offers one or more models.
After Tesla, the most popular electric vehicles sold in San Joaquin County last year included a trio of crossover SUVs: the Ford Mustang Mach-E (212 sold), the Honda Prologue (183 sold) and the Chevrolet Equinox EV (141 sold).
This story originally appeared in Stocktonia.
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