Vehicles

Vehicles is a data page on the Domestic Intelligence desk of Glassbox Auditing. How many cars, trucks and buses are registered in each state and by fuel, how many new vehicles sell each year, and other countries' electric-car sales. The fleet's mix sets how much gasoline the country burns and how much power it needs, and new-vehicle sales are a large share of consumer spending.

Last updated: 30 Sep 2026.

What is the latest reading?

Electric share of registered light-duty vehicles: 2.5% as of 2025, +2.3 pts since 2016. Source: AFDC light-duty vehicle registrations by state and fuel (U.S. DOE; Experian data).

What is on this page today?

Americans bought 1.32 million new cars and light trucks in October 2026, +2.9% on a year earlier — Not seasonally adjusted, so compared with the same month a year earlier (BEA, 30 Sep 2026)
2.54% of registered light-duty vehicles plug in (2025), +0.46 points on 2024 — Battery electric 1.94%, plug-in hybrid 0.60%; gasoline 88.6%, diesel 3.6% of vehicles registered at the end of the year (AFDC). (Alternative Fuels Data Center (U.S. Department of Energy), 30 Dec 2025)
California leads with 6.1% of its registered light-duty vehicles electric (2025); the nation is at 2.5% — Battery plus plug-in hybrid share of each state's fleet. Lowest: North Dakota 0.37%, Mississippi 0.37%. (Alternative Fuels Data Center (U.S. Department of Energy), 30 Dec 2025)
Norway leads with 97% of new cars electric in 2025; the United States is at 10.0% — Battery and plug-in hybrid share of new passenger cars in 60 countries (the IEA's counts, for every country alike). The US ranks 42. (International Energy Agency (Global EV Data Explorer), 30 Dec 2025)
298 million motor vehicles registered in 2024: 864 per 1,000 people nationally, 1,522 in South Dakota — Cars, trucks, buses and motorcycles of every fuel; +0.4% on 2023, like-for-like, without NY. States whose total moved over 35% in a year (a reporting change) or differs from AFDC's count are left out of the ranking. (Federal Highway Administration (MV-1 registrations), 30 Dec 2024)

Where does the data come from?

Items on this page come from BEA; Alternative Fuels Data Center (U.S. Department of Energy); International Energy Agency (Global EV Data Explorer); Federal Highway Administration (MV-1 registrations). Each item links to its own source. All sources, how items are checked.

What does this page lead to?

Auto & Energy (Companies): Electric registrations by state track demand for EV makers' cars and the batteries in them. (moves the same way; quarters; company scale) Source: AFDC light-duty vehicle registrations by state and fuel (U.S. DOE; Experian data).
Lithium (Macro): Batteries are the largest use of lithium, so rising electric-car sales worldwide raise demand for lithium carbonate and hydroxide. (moves the same way; months; sector scale) Source: IEA Global EV Outlook data (electric car sales and stock by country; via Our World in Data from 2026).
Energy & Materials (Macro): As electric cars take a larger share of the fleet, gasoline use per registered vehicle falls, slowly, since cars stay on the road for well over a decade. (moves the other way; years; economy scale) Source: EIA, Weekly Petroleum Status Report (stocks, refinery runs, product supplied, trade).
Business Activity (Macro): New vehicle sales are one of the largest parts of retail sales, so a drop in them shows up in the Census retail figures and in factory orders. (moves the same way; same month; economy scale) Source: U.S. Census Bureau Economic Indicators (retail, durable goods, construction, housing, business formation, inventories, trade).
Trade Exposure (Companies): Most EV battery cells are made in China and face U.S. tariffs, so a larger electric share raises automakers' exposure to tariffs on imported cells and parts. (either way, depending on the cause; quarters; company scale) Source: UN Comtrade (U.S. Census trade data).
Resources & Energy (World Powers): Electric-car sales worldwide, most of them in China, set demand for battery minerals (lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite) whose mining and refining a few countries dominate. (moves the same way; years; global scale) Source: IEA Global EV Outlook data (electric car sales and stock by country; via Our World in Data from 2026).

What feeds this page?

Auto & Energy (Companies): The cars these makers deliver become the registered fleet by state and fuel, so a shift in sales toward EVs shows in registrations within a year or two. (moves the same way; years; sector scale) Source: AFDC light-duty vehicle registrations by state and fuel (U.S. DOE; Experian data).
Fuel & Charging (Domestic Intelligence): A wider gap between gasoline and home-charging cost per 100 miles is one reason buyers choose electric, which shows over years in the electric share of each state's fleet. (moves the same way; years; sector scale) Source: fueleconomy.gov vehicle data (EPA / DOE ratings).
Lithium (Macro): Battery cells are the largest single cost of an EV and lithium is part of that cost, so lithium prices feed EV prices and, through them, EV sales. (moves the other way; 1-2 years; economy scale) Source: IEA Global EV Outlook data (electric car sales and stock by country; via Our World in Data from 2026).