Welcome to the third installment of Fleet Data Depot, where we provide quick snapshots of information, trends, and analysis relevant to the fleet market. 

While electric passenger vehicles experienced hockey-stick-like growth in 2022 — with a sales increase of 65% over 2021 — the market for commercial electric trucks and vans lags far behind. That said, 2022 was the first year that production EV models finally reached fleet and commercial users in substantive numbers.

So, what do these first adopters look like, in terms of registrations by state, vocations, and vehicle types? S&P Global Mobility shared this data with Automotive Fleet.

Overall, S&P counted 17,111 commercial electric vehicles registered in Class 2 to Class 8 in 2022. S&P breaks down those registrations by fleet size, defined as small (1-20 vehicles), medium (21-75 vehicles), and large (100+ vehicles).

With 11,040 units registered, larger fleets had the greatest number, while medium-sized fleets at 1,544 units, and small 4,527. This makes sense, as larger, publicly traded organizations have the motivation and capital to test new green technologies.  

Commercial EV Registration Observations

Looking at EV registrations by state, it’s no surprise that progressive California leads by a wide margin. California has acute regulatory pressures on the horizon, combined with robust state grant and incentive programs.

It also comes as little surprise that Washington state, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York make the top 10, and that Alaska, West Virginia, and South Dakota fall to the bottom. The higher number of registrations for Texas and Georgia may come as a surprise, but not to Ford, which is already seeing that pickup-friendly Texas is becoming a big market for the F-150 Lightning.

Looking at registrations by vehicle type, EV cargo vans led the pack, followed by electric pickups. Those two segments were dominated by the Ford E-Transit and F-150 Lightning, followed by the Rivian R1T, and a handful (about 500 units) of registrations for the Lordstown Endurance pickup. S&P noted that small fleets registered 20% of the electric cargo vans sold, a greater percentage than the overall pie of EV registrations by fleet size.

With many more competitive models launching this year, Ford will have plenty more competition in the van and pickup segments.

Electric buses (non-school) and school buses took the third and fourth spots.

The vocations that led commercial EV sales were general freight, bus transportation, services, and then government use, collectively garnering about half of all registrations. Government fleets and last-mile delivery, with dedicated routes and depot charging, will be growing segments in the near future.