Americans bought an estimated 78,895 new electric vehicles in August 2026, up 2.5% on July, according to Cox Automotive's EV Market Monitor (Cox Automotive, 15 September 2026). That is a 5.7% share of all new-vehicle sales, essentially unchanged from July's 5.6%.
Down 46.9% on a record August
Against August 2025 the figure is down 46.9%. Cox's own read is that the fall was expected, because August 2025 set a record for new EV volume in the United States. Month on month the market is stable rather than shrinking.
Tesla sold just over half
Tesla sold 40,816 EVs, 51.7% of the month's total, though its own sales slipped 3.8% from July. Toyota, Rivian, Hyundai and Cadillac followed. The average transaction price of a new EV fell 1.3% on the month to $54,754.
Used EVs are the growth line
Used EV sales rose 25.9% month on month and 14.7% year on year to 44,350, which Cox attributes to growing off-lease returns expanding supply.
In context
The whole US market sold about 1.381 million new vehicles in August at a 16.8 million SAAR, so EVs are a small and steady slice of a market still dominated by trucks and SUVs. Every US figure on AutoNergy is an industry estimate, because the US has no national registration body. Open the live USA dashboard for the monthly series.