If you’ve been increasingly noticing an uptick in stainless steel trapezoids cruising around your neighborhood, there’s a reason for that. Tesla is steadily ramping up production and deliveries of the Cybertruck, and Kelley Blue Book (KBB) data suggests that it may now be the best-selling electric truck in America.
We saw this coming. Earlier this week, InsideEVs’ estimates based on recall data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed that the Cybertruck might just have outsold the Ford F-150 Lightning in the second quarter of 2024. KBB's Q2 sales report bolsters that estimate.
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The case for electric trucks is complicated
Electric truck sales haven't really taken off. They lag far behind electric sedans and crossovers. That's mainly because of the high cost and limited capability compared to gas trucks when it comes to the heavy duty stuff, like towing and hauling. But if Tesla Cybertruck sales continue to grow, the trend might just get reversed.
The report, which extracts U.S. vehicle registration data, suggests that Tesla sold 8,755 units of the Cybertruck in Q2 whereas Ford sold 7,902 units of the F-150 Lightning during the same period. So the Cybertruck outsold the Lightning by about 853 units.
| Electric Truck Sales (Cox Auto) | Q2 2024 | Q2 2023 |
| Tesla Cybertruck | 8,755 | NA |
| Ford F-150 Lightning | 7,902 | 4,466 |
| Rivian R1T | 3,309 | 4,424 |
| Chevy Silverado EV | 2,196 | NA |
| GMC Hummer EV (truck + SUV) | 2,929 | 47 |
Crunching Tesla sales data isn't straightforward because the company doesn’t release numbers for specific models. It releases sales of the Model 3 and Model Y combined and rest of the vehicles are grouped as “Other Models.” Tesla not only doesn't release state-by-state registration data, it also doesn't even break them out by country or region. Having said that, the Cybertruck is currently only sold in the U.S., so this is fairly easy to parse.
Tesla said that in Q2, the deliveries of its other models, which include the Model S, Model X, Cybertruck and maybe even the Semi amounted to 21,551 units.
If KBB’s data is truly accurate, then the sales of Model S and Model X have massively tanked. With 8,755 units of the Cybertruck alone making up for sales of the “other models,” Tesla sold less than 13,000 units of the rest of the three models combined.
| Electric Truck Sales (Cox Auto) | Year To Date (Jan-June 2024) | Year To Date (Jan-June 2023) |
| Ford F-150 Lightning | 15,645 | 8,757 |
| Tesla Cybertruck | 11,558 | NA |
| Rivian R1T | 6,570 | 10,638 |
| GMC Hummer EV (truck + SUV) | 4,597 | 49 |
| Chevy Silverado EV | 3,257 | NA |
This is worrying because the Model S and Model X, which put Tesla on the global map and laid the groundwork for its success, are now rapidly aging. The Model S was launched in 2012 and the Model X was introduced in 2015. Both have had upgrades since then, but are showing their age in many other ways.
Year-to-date, the Ford F-150 Lightning still remains the best-selling electric truck with 15,645 units sold whereas Tesla sold 11,558 units of the Cybertruck in the six months of 2024.
With an estimated 2 million reservations for the stainless steel giant, demand isn't really the problem. Ramping up production is. And Tesla seems to be gaining some momentum there after years of development-related delays.
All said, if things continue this way, it might lead the electric truck sales charts for the remainder of the year.
