EVs, Hybrid sales were strong in May as overall demand holds steady
With tax refund season behind us and tariff talks taking a back seat to other dystopian headlines, the month of May gave us our first “clean” look at the US car market in 2025 – and the verdict is in: hybrids are leading the charge while EVs are a mixed bag.
As ever, there are plenty of ways to organize stories like this, and there are more comprehensive sources out there that will give you a deep, model-by-model dive into sales. That said, I’m focusing on the standout performers and “usual suspects” when it comes to EVs and hybrids – but don’t let that stop you from leaving your better ideas in the comments (y’all know I read ’em).
Kia posted 79,007 units in May for a 5.0% YOY gain and the brand’s eighth consecutive month of year-over-year gains. That number was helped along with a record month for the Carnival minivan and both the Telluride and Sportage SUVs. Two car lines that didn’t help were the Kia EV6 and the brand’s flagship EV9 three-row SUV, which sold just 37 units last month.
Some of that is inventory-based, as Kia shifts EV9 production from South Korea to its new EV factory in Gerogia – but no matter the reason, Kia dealers are eager to move their EVs. That means buyers killer deals on the brand EVs and still solid deals on the Kia Sportage Hybrid and Sorrento Plug-in Hybrid, too.
Hyundai also had a killer month, with total up 8% YOY and 3.7% from April, which works out to a massive 84,521 unit sales for the month of May.
“This period really marks our regular annual pricing review,” Randy Parker, CEO of Hyundai Motor America, told a Reuters reporter yesterday. “We take a look at market dynamics, consumer demand, independent of tariffs.”
Car Dealership Guy reports that those gains were driven by Hyundai’s Elantra N (+141%), and the Venue (+74%), Tucson (+15%), and Palisade (+10%) SUVs, which all set May records. Even the IONIQ 6 electric sedan – my pick as the top Tesla Model 3 alternative – was up 9% YOY, while the first examples of the brand’s three-row IONIQ 9 SUV finally began. Hyundai’s hybrid sales, too, were up 5% for the year.
Toyota saw a massive gain last month as well, delivering nearly 119,000 “electrified” vehicles in May. That number represents a gain of 39% compared to the same month last year, and accounted for almost half of the brand’s total volume for an 11% gain YOY.
Toyota, of course, is the OG in the hybrid space, and in 2025 – nearly thirty years after the launch of the original Toyota Prius in Japan – almost all of the brand’s vehicles are hybrid-only or available as hybrids, including the iconic Corolla and Camry brands, the Sierra minivan, and even the Tacoma and Tundra hybrid pickups.
Over at Ford, CNBC is reporting that sales of the company’s cars were up an impressive 17.2% YOY, driven partly by the brand’s employee pricing deals but even more partly (?) by an absolutely massive 29% jump in the sale of the company’s Ford and Lincoln hybrid models. Lincoln posted its best month of 2025, up 39% YOY.
Sales of the Ford Mustang Mach-E electric crossover held relatively steady, while Ford F-150 Lightning and E-Transit van sales were down some 25% YOY.
On the wrong side of the growth table, Subaru sales dipped more than 10% YOY and 6.6% compared to April, while experience the biggest dip of all the legacy brands, down 18.6% YoY and 23.2% vs April. It’s worth noting that Tesla does not release monthly sales data in the US, but its overseas sales are even worse than that. CNEVPost is reporting that sales are down 15% in China for May, while Tesla sales in Germany fell by more than a third in May, even though EV sales overall rose 44.9% YOY.
Cox Auto’s forecast for May puts the 2025 sales pace at about 16 million unit sales, up slightly from a year earlier but a significant decline from March’s projected sales pace of 17.8 million and April’s 17.3 million unit projected pace.
SOURCES: source links throughout the article.
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Lucid’s electric minivan can outsprint the Chevy Corvette Z06, and it has more interior space than a Ford Explorer. Is the Lucid Gravity really the “ultimate uncompromising SUV?”
Lucid Gravity SUV is faster than a Corvette Z06
Lucid’s electric SUV is impressive inside and out. The Gravity provides up to 450 miles of driving range, ultra-fast charging (200 miles in under 11 mins), and it even offers up to 120 cubic feet of cargo space. That’s more than the Ford Explorer (87.8 cu ft).
It’s also faster than most sports cars. The Grand Touring trim has up to 845 hp, good for a 0 to 60 mph sprint in just 3.4 seconds, but the Dream Edition takes it to another level.
Powered by dual electric motors, the Lucid Gravity Dream Edition boasts 1,070 hp. To see how Lucid’s minivan stacks up against the competition, Car and Driver nabbed one for testing.
On the test track, the Lucid’s minivan covered a quarter-mile in just 10.6 secs, beating a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 to 150 mph by nearly three seconds.
According to Car and Driver, the Gravity didn’t just impress in the quarter-mile, “it was a beast in every acceleration metric.” Lucid’s SUV hit 30 mph in 1.4 seconds, 70 mph in 3.7 secs, and topped 100 mph in just 5.9 seconds.
Dave Vanderwerp, the testing director who took the Gravity for a spin, said the electric SUV “gets a sort of second wave of thrust starting around 60 mph.”
With a quarter-mile of just 10.6 secs, Lucid’s Gravity is the fastest SUV they have ever tested, beating out the Rivian Tri-Motor Max (11.1 secs), BMW iX M60 (11.5 secs), and Mercedes-AMG EQE53 SUV.
Although the Rivian’s 850 hp R1S Tri-Motor beat the Gravity to 60 mph, Lucid’s SUV sprinted ahead in the quarter-mile, traveling nearly 20 mph faster.
It was also faster than gas-powered super SUVs, including the Lamborghini Urus Performante (11.2 secs) and Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT (11.2 secs). However, they have yet to test a Tesla Model X Plaid, so that could change the game.
In what it called the “1,000 hp mom missiles” drag race, Hagerty recently pitted the Gravity Dream Edition against the Audi RS Q8 Performance, Range Rover Sport SV, Porsche Macan Turbo Electric, Rivian R1S Quad, and Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid.
The result was a three-way tie between Lucid’s Gravity, the Porsche Panamera Turbo, and Rivian R1S Quad hitting the quarter-mile in 10.5 seconds.
The Lucid Gravity is available to order starting at $94,900 in the US. Later this year, Lucid is launching the lower-priced Touring trim, priced from $79,900.
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Solar provided over 11% of total US electrical generation in May, while wind + solar produced over one-fifth, and the mix of all renewable energy sources generated nearly 30%, according to data just released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Solar continues to set new records
Solar continues to be the fastest-growing source of US electricity, according to EIA’s latest “Electric Power Monthly” report (with data through May 31, 2025), which the SUN DAY Campaign reviewed.
In May alone, electrical generation by utility-scale solar (>1-megawatt (MW)) increased by 33.3% year-over-year, while “estimated” small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar PV increased by 8.9%. Combined, they grew by 26.4% and provided over 11% of US electrical output during the month.
For the first time ever, the mix of utility-scale and small-scale solar produced more electricity than wind: solar – 38,965 gigawatt-hours (GWh); wind – 36,907-GWh.
Moreover, utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic expanded by 39.8% while that from small-scale systems rose by 10.7% during the first five months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The combination of utility-scale and small-scale solar increased by 31.1% and was nearly 8.4% of total US electrical generation for January to May – up from 6.6% a year earlier.
Solar-generated electricity easily surpassed the output of US hydropower plants (6.1%). Solar now produces more electricity than hydropower, biomass, and geothermal combined.
Wind is also on the rise in 2025
Wind produced 12.2% of US electricity in the first five months of 2025. Its output was 3.9% greater than the year before, almost double that produced by hydropower.
During the first five months of 2025, electrical generation by wind + utility-scale and small-scale solar provided 20.5% of the US total, up from 18.7% during the first five months of 2024. Solar + wind accounted for nearly 21.5% of US electrical output in May alone.
During the first five months of this year, wind and solar provided 26.2% more electricity than coal, and 15.4% more than US nuclear power plants. In May alone, the disparity increased further when solar + wind outproduced coal and nuclear power by 55.7% and 22.1%, respectively.
All renewables produced almost 30% in May
The mix of all renewables – wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, geothermal – produced 9.7% more electricity in January to May than they did a year ago (7.6% more in May alone) and provided 28.1% of total US electricity production compared to 26.5% 12 months earlier.
Electrical generation by all renewables in May alone provided 29.7% of total US electrical generation. Renewables’ share of electrical generation is now second only to that of natural gas, whose electrical output actually dropped by 5.9% during the month.
“Solar and wind continue to grow, set new records, and outproduce both coal and nuclear power,” said Ken Bossong, the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director. “Consequently, the ongoing Republican assault against renewables is not only misguided and illogical but also a good example of shooting oneself in the foot.”
Read more: FERC: Solar + wind made up 96% of new US power generating capacity in first third of 2025
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Environment
Podcast: Tesla’s disturbing earnings, self-driving challenge, solid state batteries, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Tesla’s disturbing earnings, a new self-driving challenge, solid-state batteries, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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