Electric vehicle (EV) sales have been booming in 2022 with a new record of 200,000 U.S. sales in the third quarter. This is all good news for Irvine, a leader of the emerging EV industry.
In recent years, more than half a dozen EV startups, including designers and builders of new cars, trucks, batteries and charging stations, have set up shop here.
Besides Karma, the luxury car maker founded in 2014, the EV firms include Rivian and Neuron EV (e-truck manufacturers), Lordstown Motors (e-truck service providers), Alpha Motor Corp. (manufacturer of both electric cars and trucks), Noodoe EV (charging network providers) and Enevate (battery manufacturers).
As startups and sales increase, of course, so do jobs, which is even better news for Irvine residents. In 2021, the number of electric vehicle jobs nationwide increased by more than 26%, adding to nearly 22,000 new jobs, with another 38,000 from plug-in and hybrid vehicles, according to a U.S. Department of Energy report. California has received the lion’s share of those new jobs, with most of them in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
