Tesla sales up 25% on recovery in Europe

In the United States, electric vehicles make up only about 6 percent of the new car market. According to estimates from research firm Cox Automotive, Tesla’s US sales fell 20 percent in the second quarter.

Weak sales of electric cars in the United States have also affected other automakers. General Motors said Wednesday that its second-quarter U.S. sales fell 4 percent from a year earlier, in part because it sold fewer battery-powered models. Sales of the electric Chevrolet Equinox fell 62 percent in the quarter.

Tesla also said it sold 13.5 gigawatt-hours of batteries in the second quarter, up from 9.6 gigawatt-hours a year earlier. Batteries, which are bought by homeowners, businesses and electric companies to store energy or to offset fluctuations in electricity demand or supply, have become an important business for Tesla.

Both the automakers and Tesla’s batteries likely benefited from the Iran war, which has driven up the prices of oil, liquefied natural gas and other commodities. Because electric cars use no fuel and batteries often store energy generated by solar or wind farms, they are much more attractive to consumers and businesses when fossil fuels become expensive or in short supply.

Cars remain Tesla’s biggest source of revenue, but investors are focusing more on the company’s self-driving technology, which Wall Street believes will become a bigger and more lucrative business over time. Investors value Tesla at $1.3 trillion, far more than any other automaker, based on expectations that the company will dominate the autonomous taxi market.

Self-driving taxis don’t yet generate significant revenue, and Tesla has fewer of them on the road than other companies. Tesla operates 69 autonomous vehicles in Texas, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. That compares with 628 operated by Google parent Waymo and 317 by Austin, Texas-based Avride, which partners with Uber to offer driverless rides in Dallas.